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BV  2766  .P77  U53  1921 
Eastman,  Fred,  1886- 
Unfinished  business  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  in 


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UNFINISHED     BUSINESS 

OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 
IN  AMERICA 


FRED  EASTMAN 


Prepared  Under  the  Direction  of 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 

in  the  u.  s.  a. 

The  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions 

The  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School  Work 

The  Board  of  Missions  for  Freedmen 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  WESTMINSTER  PRESS 

1921 


COPYRIGHT,    1921,   BY 
FRED    EASTMAN 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION .     .     o     .  7 

I.   IN  THE   SOUTHERN   MOUNTAINS  ......  13 

II.  AMONG  SPANISH-SPEAKING  PEOPLE 41 

(a)  MEXICANS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  .   .   ,   o   .   ,  44 

(b)  PORTO  RICANS ,   ,  58 

(c)  CUBANS 72 

m.  IN  INDUSTRIAL   COMMUNITIES 79 

IV.  IN   RURAL   COMMUNITIES 105 

V.   AMONG  ALASKANS   AND   INDIANS 127 

(a)  ALASKANS 130 

(b)  INDIANS 142 

VI.  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHILDREN 153 


FOREWORD 

It  is  a  good  thing  for  each  denomination  to  seek  to 
determine  as  clearly  as  it  can  its  own  distinctive  duty. 
Unless  it  does  this  it  is  not  in  a  position  to  plan  its  proper 
courses  of  action  or  to  draw  out  and  use  the  resources  of 
its  membership.  It  is  in  no  presumptuous  or  vaunting 
spirit  that  the  different  groups  of  Christians  in  our  country 
to-day  are  seeking  thus  to  ascertain  each  its  own  rightful 
share  in  the  one  great  task.  They  are  working  together 
in  more  united  and  trustful  relations  than  ever  before  and 
their  work  both  separately  and  together  will  be  far  more 
effective  by  reason  of  their  sure  discernment  of  their  own 
respective  obligations. 

Mr.  Eastman  seeks  in  this  little  volume  to  help  Presby- 
terians to  realize  what  their  part  is  or  ought  to  be  in  some 
of  the  great  tasks  before  the  Christian  forces  in  America. 
He  has  been  obliged,  of  necessity,  to  select  a  few  of  these 
tasks  and  to  present  each  of  them  in  as  suggestive  a  way 
as  possible.  And  the  reader  will  surely  agree  that  he  has 
done  his  work  exceedingly  well. 

Some  people  are  inspired  to  greater  effort  by  the  success 
of  the  work  which  they  have  already  done.  Others  are 
stirred  more  by  the  thought  not  of  the  "petty  done"  but  of 
the  "undone  vast."  They  agree  with  Browning  that  "  'Tis 
not  what  man  does  that  exalts  him,  but  what  man  would 
do."  Mr.  Eastman  has  wisely  set  forth  both  the  work  done 
and  the  work  still  to  be  done.  He  has  told  concrete  and 
moving  stories  of  men  and  women  and  the  deeds  they  have 
wrought  by  God's  blessing  in  ministering  to  human  need, 

S 


6  FOREWORD 

in  creating  Christian  faith  and  character,  and  in  making 
our  country  more  nearly  a  Christian  land.  And  he  has 
also  drawn  the  broad  and  all  too  dark  picture  of  the  vast 
needs  still  unmet  which  call  for  the  lives  of  young  men 
and  young  women  and  for  the  prayer  and  support  of  the 
whole  Church. 

How  can  these  be  withheld  in  the  face  of  such  evidence 
of  the  rich  lucrativeness  of  the  investments  of  life  and 
wealth  in  that  great  service  of  America  and  of  the  world? 
For  while  this  volume  deals  only  with  the  unfinished  business 
of  the  Church  at  home,  great  issues  for  all  the  world  hang 
upon  the  Church's  attitude  to  that  business.  We  can  give 
only  what  we  have.  And  we  ought  to  do  our  whole  duty  in 
America  both  for  America's  sake  and  for  the  sake  of  the 
world. 

That  is  the  Church's  business  but  it  is  more  than  that. 
It  is  God's.  And  there  is  a  word  of  our  Lord's  wholly 
relevant  with  regard  to  it:  "Knew  ye  not  that  I  must  be 
about  my  Father's  business?"  May  we  all  be  set  more  dili- 
gently to  doing  that  business  by  the  study  of  this  book. 

Robert  E.  Speer 


INTRODUCTION 

The  Presbyterian  Church  shares  with  all  other  denomi- 
nations the  common  purpose  of  making  this  world  Christian. 
We  are  all  trying  to  make  Christ's  law  of  love  and  service 
the  controlling  law  of  human  life.  We  are  all  endeavoring 
to  convert  the  spirit  of  suspicion  into  a  spirit  of  faith; 
the  spirit  of  greed  into  a  spirit  of  giving;  the  spirit  of 
hatred  into  a  spirit  of  love;  the  spirit  of  selfishness  into  a 
spirit  of  service.  We  are  all  working  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  the  time  when  men  shall  live  together  as  brothers  in 
justice,  righteousness,  and  friendship. 

In  this  task  there  is  a  differentiation  of  labor.  Each  de- 
nomination stresses  those  particular  phases  of  the  general 
task  for  which  its  history,  traditions,  and  point  of  view 
have  fitted  it.  JHistorically  the  Presbyterian  Church  has 
stressed  especially  religious  and  political  freedom,  education, 
and  Christian  service.  To  be  sure  we  have  no  monopoly  on 
these  ideals.  We  do  not  want  monopoly.  On  the  contrary 
we  have  been  trying  to  get  them  universally  accepted.  Get- 
ting them  universally  accepted  is  part  of  the  unfinished 
business  of  our  ChurchTA 

The  reason  for  our  striving  for  religious  and  political 
freedom,  education,  and  service,  is  deep-rooted  in  our  theol- 
ogy. You  cannot  plant  in  the  human  heart  the  great  concep- 
tion of  a  sovereign  God,  indwelling  in  the  human  soul,  with- 
out that  idea  some  day  flowering  in  a  reverence  for  human 
personality.  And  sooner  or  later  reverence  for  human  per- 
sonality bears  fruit  in  practical  efforts  for  freedom,  edu- 
cation, and  service;  for  freedom,  education,  and  service  are 
necessary  for  the  full  development  of  the  divine  possibili- 
ties in  human  personality. 

That  is  why  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  made 
evangelism  —  by  which  we  mean  getting  the  human  soul 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION 

into  fellowship  with  God  —  fundamental  in  all  its  work.  In 
this  we  are  following  the  method  of  Jesus.  He  called  his 
disciples  one  by  one  into  fellowship  with  God.  Once  they 
were  in  that  fellowship  they  grew  speedily  out  of  littleness 
into  greatness;  out  of  ignorance  into  understanding;  out 
of  bondage  into  freedom.  They  in  turn  planted  the  seed 
of  this  great  conception  in  the  minds  of  others  and,  like  a 
sapling  that  will  not  be  confined,  it  forced  its  way  into 
Jewish  morality,  then  into  Greek  philosophy,  then  into  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  so  on  through  the  centuries.  Those 
great  experiments  in  human  liberty,  the  Swiss  and  Dutch 
Republics,  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  and  the  United 
States  of  America  are  all  products  of  that  seed.  The  best 
of  our  literature  and  art,  our  music  and  our  drama,  our 
education  and  our  culture,  sprang  from  the  same  source.  ■ 

When  the  conception  of  a  sovereign  God  dwelling  in 
the  human  soul  took  root  in  the  minds  of  our  Presbyterian 
forefathers  it  had  a  similar  growth  and  bore  similar  fruit. 
Consider  those  fruits  in  America  alone. 

We  were  the  first  organized  body  on  American  soil  to  pro- 
pound the  doctrine  of  a  free  Church  and  a  free  State. 
In  1729,  thirty-seven  years  before  the  signing  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  the  Presbyterian  Church  declared 
for  a  separation  of  Church  and  State.  In  1765  the  Presby- 
terians and  the  Congregationalists  cooperated  in  resisting 
a  plan  to  set  up  in  the  colonies  an  Episcopal  establishment 
and  to  tax  "dissenters"  for  its  maintenance.  The  year 
before,  when  political  feeling  was  running  high,  the  Gen- 
eral Synod  was  courageous  enough  to  send  out  a  pastoral 
letter  to  all  Presbyterians  urging  their  loyal  support  to  the 
Continental  Congress.  At  the  same  time  a  convention  in 
North  Carolina  composed  of  delegates  who  were  mainly 
Presbyterians  issued  the  famous  Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  Independence  preceding  the  action  of  the  Colonial  Con- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

gress  by  more  than  a  year.  Our  Church  "taught,  practiced, 
and  maintained  in  fullness,  first  in  this  land,  that  form  of 
i  government  in  accordance  with  which  this  Republic  was  or- 
ganized. The  historian  Bancroft  says:  "The  Revolution 
of  1776,  so  far  as  it  was  affected  by  religion,  was  a  Presby- 
terian measure.  It  was  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  the  Presbyterianism  of  the  Old  World  planted 
in  her  sons,  the  English  Puritans,  the  Scotch  Covenanters, 
the  French  Huguenots,  the  Dutch  Calvinists,  and  the  Pres- 
[  byterians  of  Ulster.'  "  ^ 

As  for  education,  we  are  a  college-building,  rather  than  a 
cathedral-building.  Church.  The  impulse  toward  education 
is  our  historical  heritage.  John  Knox  could  not  conceive  of 
churches  apart  from  schools.  His  enthusiasm  for  education 
was  brought  to  this  country  by  the  Scotch  and  Scotch-Irish, 
who  established  our  Church  here,  and  that  enthusiasm  has 
characterized  it  ever  since.  For  more  than  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  the  normal  requirement  for  admission  to  the 
ministry  has  included  diplomas  representing  both  classical 
and  theological  training.  No  denomination  has  maintained 
a  higher  standard  in  this  line.  If  our  ideal  for  the  ministry 
has  been  high,  our  ideal  for  the  laity  has  been  equally  high. 
The  Presbyterian  Church  has  established  1 2  theological  sem- 
inaries, 63  colleges  and  academies,  and  a  total  of  2036 
schools  of  all  kinds  in  16  countries. 

There  is  no  particular  reason  why  Christian  service  should 
be  spoken  of  as  something  distinct  from  political  and  re- 
ligious freedom  and  education,  for  fostering  such  ideals 
is  the  greatest  kind  of  service.  But  in  practice  we  have 
come  to  use  the  term  "service"  more  in  the  sense  of  lend- 
ing a  helping  hand  to  less  favored  neighbors  at  home  and 
abroad.     Caring  for  the  sick,  the  distressed,  the  broken: 

1  Cf.  Roberts,  A  Brief  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


lo  INTRODUCTION 

providing  opportunities  of  education;  affording  voca- 
tional training  and  culture  for  those  who  would  not  other- 
wise have  them;  bringing  the  dynamic  of  true  religion  into 
lives  that  are  wasting  away  for  want  of  it  —  these  are  forms 
of  service  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  always  counted 
itself  under  divine  orders  to  carry  on.  Our  first  missionary 
was  appointed  in  1775.  He  was  Rev.  Samuel  Davies  sent 
by  the  Hanover  Presbytery  to  Georgia.  He  soon  became 
known  as  the  champion  of  freedom,  the  founder  of  churches, 
and  the  friend  of  learning.  Twelve  years  later  we  find  a 
general  missionary  collection  being  ordered  throughout  all 
Presbyterian  churches.  Last  year  our  77  hospitals  and  98 
dispensaries  at  home  and  abroad  treated  350,284  patients. 
We  maintained  too  nearly  4000  home  and  foreign  mis- 
sionaries. 

Now  these  efforts  and  the  great  religious  conceptions  out 
of  which  they  grew,  are  all  very  good.  We  take  what 
Roosevelt  called  a  "decent  pride"  in  them.  But  Presby- 
terians of  this  generation  cannot  get  into  heaven  or  get 
heaven  into  men  on  the  strength  of  our  forefathers'  efforts. 
We  must  work  out  our  own  salvation.  There  is  a  mass 
of  unfinished  business  before  us  which  wejnust  attend  to  if 
we  are  to  be  worthy  sons  of  worthy  sires. '  In  the  chapters 
that  follow  the  author  has  endeavored  to  outline  this  un- 
finished business  in  America.  He  has  treated  it  especially 
in  relation  to  the  practical  problems  and  the  specific  groups 
among  which  the  Church  is  working.  These  specific  groups 
include  among  others  the  3,000,000  Southern  mountaineers, 
13,000,000  foreign  born,  11,000,000  Negroes,^  3,000,000 
Latin  Americans,  1,750,000  Mexicans,  1,500,000  migrant 
laborers,  334,000  Indians,  54,000  Alaskans,  and  500,000 
Mormons. 

1  The  unfinished  task  among  the  Negroes  is  barely  mentioned  in 
this  book  because  it  is  to  be  given  a  whole  volume  to  itself  in  the 
plan  of  study  for  the  succeeding  year. 


INTRODUCTION  ii 

In  dealing  with  our  responsibilities  to  these  groups,  let 
us  keep  constantly  before  us  our  historic  ideals  of  religious 
and  political  freedom,  education,  and  Christian  service. 
More  important  yet,  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  these  great 

I  ideals  are  the  product  of  such  religious  conceptions  as 
our  faith  in  a  sovereign  God,  dwelling  in  the  human  soul. 

fundamental  in  all  our  unfinished  business,  therefore,  is 
evangelism,  or  getting  individuals  into  fellowship  with  God. 
Let  us  state  this  here  at  the  beginning  in  no  uncertain  terms. 
If  the  Presbyterian  Church  were  to  forget  its  history  and  be- 
come so  blind  as  not  to  see  the  religious  roots  of  its  passion 
for  freedom,  its  desire  for  education,  and  its  devotion  to 
human  service,  and  were  to  set  about  working  for  these 
things  simply  through  laws  and  movements  whose  object  is 
to  change  social  environment,  it  would  be  a  useful  institu- 
tion, but  it  would  cease  to  be  a  Christian  Church.  As  a 
Christian  Church  we  hold  that  the  dynamic  of  social  and 
political  progress  is  religion  and  the  most  effective  method 
of  changing  environment  is  through  the  individual,  and 
the  most  powerful  method  of  changing  the  individual  is  to 
get  him  into  fellowship  with  GodP; 

If  any  further  proof  of  the  fundamental  necessity  of  evan- 
gelism is  needed  it  lies  in  the  fact  that  more  than  sixty  per 
cent  of  the  people  of  America  are  not  identified  with  any 
Christian  Church,  either  Protestant  or  Catholic,  and  who 
shall  say  how  many  of  those  who  are  nominal  members 
of  the  Church  are  still  strangers  to  God! 

In  each  chapter  the  author  has  sought  to  outline  briefly 
the  whole  task,  to  describe  in  some  detail  one  or  two  specific 
pieces  of  work  the  Church  is  conducting  through  its  mis- 
sionaries in  that  particular  field,  and  finally  to  sum  up  the 
task  that  remains.  In  no  case  has  he  tried  to  catalogue 
all  the  various  projects  of  the  various  mission  projects  of 
the  various  Boards  and  agencies.    Any  such  attempt  would 


12  INTRODUCTION 

produce  an  encyclopedia  and  would  be  a  weariness  to  the 
flesh.  It  is  better  to  have  a  dozen  clear  pictures  that  show 
the  spirit  and  method  of  the  work,  than  a  hundred  accounts 
that  would  of  necessity  be  sketchy.  The  author  has  as- 
sumed also  that  the  reader  is  interested  not  so  much  in  the 
particular  Board  or  agency  that  is  doing  a  piece  of  work 
as  in  the  task  itself. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  hereby  made  to  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Gildersleeve,  Miss  Mabel  M.  Sheibley,  Dr.  John  A.  Marquis, 
Mr.  B.  Carter  Millikin,  Mr.  John  M.  Somerndike,  Dr. 
John  M.  Gaston,  and  Rev.  John  Bailey  Kelly,  for  reading 
the  manuscript  and  for  their  friendly  counsel  and  criticism. 
Mrs.  Gildersleeve  and  Miss  Sheibley  also  supplied  informa- 
tion on  many  missionary  projects.  To  Mr.  Somerndike  the 
writer  is  further  indebted  for  much  material  on  the  work 
of  colporteurs  and  the  unfinished  task  of  the  Church  in 
religious  education.  Thanks  are  also  due  to  Mr.  Charles 
A.  Thomson,  whose  excellent  report  of  the  camp  on  Cata- 
lina  Island  was  the  basis  of  part  of  the  chapter  on  the 
Mexican  work;  to  Dr.  Edmund  deS.  Brunner  for  much 
material  on  rural  surveys;  to  Rev.  Kenneth  IMiller,  Rev. 
Robert  W.  Anthony,  W.  P.  Fulton,  D.D.,  Rev.  W.  C. 
McGarvey,  the  late  George  W.  Montgomery,  D.D.,  Rev. 
James  J.  Coale,  Charles  L.  Zorbaugh,  D.D.,  William  T. 
Jaquess,  D.D.,  Rev.  W.  Clyde  Smith,  and  Rev.  Robert  S. 
Donaldson  for  information  concerning  the  work  of  their 
respective  church  extension  organizations. 

And  last  but  not  least,  the  writer  expresses  his  humble 
gratitude  to  his  wife  who  kept  the  babies  quiet  while  he 
wrote. 


CHAPTER  I 
IN  THE  SOUTHERN   MOUNTAINS 


SOUTHERN   MOUNTAINS 

THE    CHALLENGE 
0£  the  Field 

The  mountain  section  stretches  along  the  southern 
portion  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains  and  extends 
into  northern  Georgia  and  Alabama,  embracing  a  re- 
gion of  two  or  three  million  acres.  In  the  Southern 
Mountains  the  people  live  for  the  most  part  by  hunt- 
ing, fishing,  and  growing  such  corn  and  vegetables  as 
are  absolutely  needed.  This  region  is  rich  in  timber 
and  mineral  deposits.  The  chief  occupations  are  agri- 
culture, logging,  and  until  recently,  distilling. 

The  main  features  of  the  problem  in  this  section 
are:  isolation,  illiteracy,  and  arrested  development. 
Housing  and  general  living  conditions  are  not  good 
and  result  in  the  widespread  prevalence  of  disease. 
There  are  few  schools  and  churches,  little  knowledge 
of  what  goes  on  in  the  outside  world,  and  small  inter- 
est either  in  local  or  national  politics.  . 

Most  of  the  preaching  is  now  done  by  voluntary 
pastors,  of  little  education  and  training,  with  a  great 
but  almost  superstitious  belief  in  God.  Large  por- 
tions of  this  country  have  no  religious  services  of  any 
kind. 

American  Volume  —  Interchurch  Survey, 


SOUTHERN   MOUNTAINS 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Through  the  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions 
ten  boarding  schools  and  fifteen  community  stations 
have  been  maintained.  The  boarding  schools  are  lo- 
cated at  Mount  Vernon,  Kentucky;  Harriman,  Ten- 
nessee; Colcord,  West  Virginia;  four  at  lAsheville, 
one  at  Concord  and  two  at  Hot  Springs,  North  Caro- 
lina. These  schools  employ  ninety  commissioned 
workers  and  enroll  883  boys  and  girls  with  an  average 
attendance  of  660  per  day. 

The  community  stations  are  located  at  Cortland, 
Smith,  Traveler's  Rest,  Garrard  and  Woonton,  Ken- 
tucky; Sevierville,  Flag  Pond,  and  two  at  Sneedville, 
Tennessee;  Cabell,  Dorothy,  Dry  Creek,  and  Mont- 
coal,  West  Virginia;  and  Osage  Iron  Works  and  Proc- 
tor, Missouri.  Twenty-eight  workers  are  engaged  in 
these  fifteen  stations.  Last  year  there  were  424  stu- 
dents enrolled  in  special  classes  of  an  educational 
nature. 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions,  the  Presby- 
terian Church  is  rendering  a  ministry  of  health,  edu- 
cation, and  evangelism,  employing  eighteen  ministers, 
seventeen  teachers,  two  physicians,  five  nurses,  and 
ten  community  workers.  A  hospital  and  industrial 
center  is  being  developed  at  White  Rock,  North  Caro- 
lina; schools  at  Alpine  and  Jewett,  Tennessee,  and  at 
Burnsville,  North  Carolina;  a  church  and  community 
center  work  at  Vardy,  Tennessee,  and  at  Kingston, 
Arkansas. 

Good  work  —  but  only  a  drop  in  the  bucket  when 
we  consider  that  more  than  3,000,000  human  beings  are 
to  be  reached. 


UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Chapter   I 
IN  THE  SOUTHERN  MOUNTAINS 

A  Story  of  the  Laurel  Country.  "The  doctor's  going 
is  Hke  the  stopping  of  running  water."  It  was  a  moun- 
tain woman's  tribute  to  Dr.  George  H.  Packard  when 
after  seven  years  of  unremitting  toil  in  the  Laurel  country 
of  western  North  Carolina  he  left  to  take  a  rest  and  regain 
his  health.  Another  of  his  mountain  friends,  a  man,  put 
it  this  way,  "I'd  be  satisfied  if  the  doctor  would  just  fly 
over  here  once  a  week  in  an  airplane  and  wave  his  hand." 

Seven  years  before,  he  had  come  into  the  community  when 
there  was  neither  railroad  nor  good  road,  nor  doctor,  nor 
nurse,  nor  newspaper,  nor  preacher  within  a  radius  of 
eighteen  miles.  He  had  met  suspicion  and  prejudice  and 
hostility,  and  no  wonder!  for  most  of  those  who  had  come 
into  the  community  from  the  outside  world  had  merely 
come  to  stare,  and  then  had  gone  away  to  laugh  at  the 
ways  of  the  mountain  people.  Somehow  the  doctor  had 
overcome  the  suspicion  and  prejudice  and  hostility,  and  now 
after  seven  years'  work  he  was  leaving  behind  him  a  thor- 
oughly equipped  hospital,  an  able  associate  doctor,  a  nurse, 
and  some  hundreds  of  friends  that  would  have  gladly  shared 
their  all  with  him. 

But,  after  all,  this  story  doesn't  begin  with  the  doctor's 
coming.  In  fact  it  is  difficult  to  find  just  where  it  does 
begin.     Our  Presbyterian  faith  tells  us  that  it  all  began 

i6 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  17 

in  the  heart  of  God,  but  we  are  curious  enough  to  want 
to  know  more  about  the  human  beings  through  whom  he 
worked.  When  you  talk  to  the  doctor  he  tells  you  of  his 
capable  wife,  and  of  Miss  Frances  L.  Goodrich  and  Miss 
Fish,  two  brave  women  who  labored  here  for  eighteen  years 
before  he  came.  And  he  tells  you  of  the  late  Mr.  Campbell 
of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation  and  of  Dr.  Warren  H. 
Wilson  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions.  All  these  he  says 
were  in  the  conspiracy.  Ask  of  them  and  you  are  told  that 
Miss  Florence  Stephenson,  formerly  head  of  the  Asheville 
Home  School  of  the  Woman's  Home  Board,  was  respon- 
sible for  enlisting  them.  If  you  trace  the  thing  back  from 
the  Board  records  in  New  York  you  reach  ultimately  the 
same  answer  —  Miss  Stephenson.  You  find  that  in  1886 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Pease  gave  some  property  in  the  suburbs 
of  Asheville  for  home  mission  purposes  and  here  a  little 
later  was  started  the  first  Industrial  School,  with  Miss 
Stephenson  as  principal.  A  young  woman  of  large  vision, 
big  heart,  and  great  executive  ability,  she  seems  to  have 
been  a  moving  spirit  in  nearly  every  good  work  in  that 
region  for  the  last  thirty  years.  At  the  time  of  this  writing 
she  is  in  Alaska  and  unreachable.  It's  just  as  well  for  it 
seems  to  be  fatal  to  talk  to  her  on  this  subject.  Before  she 
is  through  with  you  she  has  signed  you  up  to  spend  the 
rest  of  your  days  in  some  mountain  community  forty  miles 
from  a  railroad,  and  you  are  thanking  her  for  the  privilege. 
That  is  what  happened  to  Miss  Goodrich  about  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  She  visited  Miss  Stephenson's  school  in 
Asheville,  and  a  few  months  later  she  accepted  a  life  sen- 
tence and  seemed  to  be  happy  about  it.  Miss  Goodrich 
ha;d  had  the  training  of  a  Presbyterian  manse,  college,  art 
schools,  travel  in  America  and  Europe,  and  she  put  it  all 
into  her  work  in  the  Southern  Mountains  so  gladly  and 
effectively  for  the  next  twenty-five  years  that  she  is  known 


i8  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

and  loved  to-day  throughout  that  mountain  region  as 
"the  little  bishop  of  Laurel.'* 

What  was  her  work?  She  began  by  going  into  a  moun- 
tain community  where  the  people  had  been  shut  away  from 
the  opportunities  that  the  rest  of  us  have  had,  opportunities 
for  proper  schooling,  wholesome  social  life,  books,  travel, 
and  even  church.  It  had  always  been  difficult  to  get  thor- 
oughly trained  teachers  to  go  into  such  communities,  be- 
cause they  had  no  suitable  place  to  live,  the  salary  was 
meager,  and  usually  the  school  term  was  only  a  few  weeks. 
Often  the  total  school  appropriation  from  the  school  dis- 
trict was  under  $50.00  for  the  entire  year.  Miss  Good- 
rich's first  aim  was  to  provide  a  home  for  a  teacher.  She 
would  secure  or  build  some  little  cottage  where  the  teacher 
would  be  comfortable.  She  would  live  in  that  house  with 
the  teacher,  be  a  companion  to  her,  and  help  her  in  the 
school  when  needed,  and  gradually  persuade  the  community 
round  about  to  better  the  school,  provide  more  money  for 
it,  and  lengthen  the  school  term  to  eight  months.  She  took 
one  community  at  a  time  and  stayed  \>y  it  until  the  school 
was  well  on  the  way  to  standard  and  the  people  ready  to 
go  on  with  it.  Then  she  would  secure  a  capable  woman 
community  worker  to  take  her  place  with  the  teacher  and 
she  would  move  on  to  the  next  community.  Always  she 
chose  her  next  place  with  care.  She  would  never  duplicate 
the  work  of  any  other  missionary,  or  enter  a  field  possessed 
by  some  other  denomination.  Thus  it  was  that  she  estab- 
lished her  work  at  Rice's  Cove,  Allanstand,  Alleghany,  Big 
Laurel,  Carmen,  Revere,  and  White  Rock. 

Right  here  should  be  set  down  the  record  of  a  "perfect 
cycle"  —  a  long-headed  piece  of  statesmanship.  Beginning 
with  a  school  that  was  held  three  or  four  weeks  a  year  and 
taught  usually  by  a  mountain  man  whose  own  education  was 
very  deficient  —  sometimes  he  could  not  teach  writing  be- 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  19 

cause  he  could  not  write  himself  —  Miss  Goodrich  increased 
the  length  of  the  school  term,  provided  a  capable  teacher, 
and  supplemented  the  school  fund  with  as  much  money  as 
was  necessary  to  pay  a  good  teacher  for  six  or  eight  months. 
The  teacher  and  the  community  worker  watched  each  de- 
veloping child.  The  more  promising  children  were  en- 
couraged to  complete  eight  grades  and  then  to  go  on  to 
Asheville  Home  School  where  they  were  given  a  four-year 
course  fitting  them  to  go  back  into  their  mountain  communi- 
ties as  teachers  taking  the  places  of  the  teachers  Miss 
Goodrich  had  brought  in  from  the  outside.  Thus  the 
cycle  was  completed.  The  school  was  again  taught  by 
one  of  its  own  community  but  this  time  by  an  educated 
girl  and  for  a  period  of  eight  months  instead  of  a  few 
weeks. 

Where  did  Miss  Goodrich  get  the  money?  For  the  most 
part  she  begged  it.  She  begged  from  her  personal  friends 
and  from  her  father's  congregation  in  Cleveland. 

But  she  was  not  content  to  beg  all  her  money  from  the 
outside.  The  mountaineers  themselves  had  practically  no 
money,  but  this  did  not  daunt  her.  She  set  to  work  on  a 
plan  by  which  they  could  earn  money.  The  consummation 
of  this  plan  was  the  formation  of  the  Allanstand  Cottage 
Industries,  manufacturing  rugs,  table  runners,  baskets,  and 
so  forth.  The  grandmothers  of  the  mountain  women  had 
developed  these  arts  to  a  high  degree  but  they  had  been 
allowed  to  fall  into  disuse,  partly  from  lack  of  materials 
and  partly  from  lack  of  market.  Miss  Goodrich  began  by 
providing  materials  and  then  offering  herself  to  take  charge 
of  the  marketing.  The  old  grandmothers'  looms  were  re- 
stored, repaired,  and  put  to  work.  The  old  patterns  were  re- 
vived. When  a  sufficient  number  of  quilts,  baskets,  and 
rugs  were  finished,  Miss  Goodrich  offered  them  for  sale  in 


20  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Asheville  and  in  New  York.  The  sale  was  difficult  at  first 
but  when  she  put  into  the  hands  of  the  mountain  women 
who  had  made  the  articles,  the  money  which  she  had  re- 
ceived from  them,  their  gratitude  encouraged  her  to  go  on. 
Last  year  she  sold  $12,000  worth  of  these  products.  This 
was  bringing  into  the  community  money  which  could 
be  used  for  giving  the  children  better  education  and 
for  purchasing  those  bits  pf  the  outside  world  for  which  the 
mountain  women  were  hungering. 

Many  stories  have  been  told  about  the  southern  moun- 
taineers and  their  ways.  Miss  Goodrich  was  warned  when 
she  went  into  the  mountains  that  she  should  never  go  alone. 
She  must  always  have  some  one  with  her  to  protect  her. 
Yet  she  always  went  alone  and  never  had  any  protection 
except  the  companionship  of  some  other  woman.  In  twenty- 
five  years  she  has  never  been  insulted.  One  night  two 
drunken  men  drove  up  to  her  little  cabin  where  she  and  a 
community  worker  were  living.  The  men  demanded  food 
and  lodging.  Stepping  out  on  the  little  stoop  Miss  Good- 
rich faced  them  and  spoke  quietly,  "We  are  just  women 
alone  here,"  she  said.  The  men  with  hats  off  apologized 
for  troubling  them  and  rode  away. 

Building  up  schools  and  starting  industries  would  be 
enough  to  keep  an  ordinary  woman  busy,  but  Miss  Good- 
rich and  her  community  workers  were  not  ordinary  women 
and  they  were  called  upon  for  many  other  kinds  of  com- 
munity service.  Since  there  was  no  doctor  they  were  often 
called  upon  to  help  cure  the  sick,  to  pull  teeth,  to  "lay  out" 
the  dead.  From  a  famous  surgeon  in  Asheville,  Miss  Good- 
rich secured  six  vials  of  the  more  common  medicines  along 
with  careful  instruction  how  to  use  them.  No  one  knew 
better  than  she  that  this  sort  of  treatment  was  only  a  stop- 
gap, and  gradually  the  conviction  grew  upon  her  that  some- 
how she  must  arrange  to  have  a  real  doctor  come  to  live 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  21 

among  the  mountain  people  to  render  them  the  medical 
service  they  so  much  needed. 

One  day  a  baby  died  —  a  baby  that  might  have  lived 
had  there  been  a  doctor  to  minister  to  it.  Thereupon  Miss 
Goodrich  applied  to  Mr.  Campbell,  Russell  Sage  Foundation 
Director  of  Southern  Mountain  work,  to  find  her  a  doctor 
who  would  be  willing  to  go  down  and  live  among  the  moun- 
taineers. 

And  here  the  story  leaves  the  Southern  Mountains  and 
follows  Mr.  Campbell  to  Medford,  Massachusetts,  and  to 
the  private  hospital  of  Dr.  George  H.  Packard.  Dr.  Packard 
had  just  lost  his  only  child.  The  loss  had  been  almost 
more  than  he  could  bear  and  he  went  away  with  a  heavy 
heart  about  the  practice  in  which  he  had  been  happy  for 
sixteen  years.  More  and  more  after  his  baby  died  he  was 
interested  in  children.  When  Mr.  Campbell's  wife  was  about 
to  bring  into  the  world  her  first-born,  Mr.  Campbell  took 
her  to  Dr.  Packard's  private  hospital,  and  there  it  was  that 
as  acquaintance  ripened  into  friendship  Mr.  Campbell  pre- 
sented to  Dr.  Packard  the  needs  of  the  Southern  Mountains 
and  especially  of  the  Laurel  country.  It  was  there  that  he 
told  Dr.  Packard  of  the  baby  that  had  died  because  no 
doctor  was  available. 

Dr.  Packard  listened  and  was  moved.  He  was  willing 
to  go  down  and  take  a  look  at  the  country.  Mr.  Campbell 
lost  no  time  in  arranging  it.  It  was  late  in  October,  and 
amid  sleet,  rain,  and  mud  when  the  visit  was  made.  For 
ten  days  Dr.  Packard  and  his  wife  plodded  through  the  mud. 
Finally  on  their  way  back  to  the  nearest  railroad  station 
he  turned  to  Mrs.  Packard.  "Well,  dear,  would  you  be 
willing  to  tackle  the  job  under  these  conditions?"  Mrs. 
Packard  had  been  a  missionary  in  China  and  had  lived 
through  the  Boxer  uprising  and  her  answer  came  quickly, 
"I  am  willing  to  come  back  if  I  ever  live  to  get  out."    So  it 


22  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

came  about  that  Dr.  Packard  and  Mrs.  Packard,  seven 
years  ago,  left  a  successful  practice  and  a  private  hospital 
in  Medford,  Massachusetts,  and  bringing  all  they  had  in 
the  world  —  character  and  training,  instruments  and  furni- 
ture—  invested  all  in  the  lives  of  the  men  and  women 
and  children  of  Laurel  Country. 

Consider  the  difficulties  the  doctor  faced.  There  was 
no  railroad  less  than  i8  miles  distant.  The  only  highways 
were  mountain  trails,  for  long  periods  impassable  except  on 
horseback.  Most  of  the  cabins  were  located  along  creeks 
in  the  mountains  far  removed  from  road  or  telephone  or  any 
connection  whatever  with  the  outside  world.  The  average 
mountain  home  had  but  one  or  two  rooms,  and  was  without 
rug  or  carpet  or  furniture  except  a  few  homemade  chairs. 
Pigs  and  chickens  as  well  as  cats  and  dogs  had  the  freedom 
of  the  house.  Patent  medicines  were  considered  trust- 
worthy. All  children  were  brought  into  the  world  by  mid- 
wives.  The  only  doctor  the  people  had  ever  known  had  sold 
medicine  at  twenty-five  cents  a  bottle  and  sometimes  the 
medicine  was  a  drink  of  whisky.  The  nearest  hospital  was 
in  Asheville,  fifty-two  miles  away,  and  so  inaccessible  was  it 
because  of  the  roads,  that  it  might  as  well  have  been  a 
thousand  miles  away. 

Moreover  folks  were  not  likely  to  send  for  the  doctor 
until  their  case  had  become  more  or  less  serious,  and  they 
had  exhausted  the  traditional  methods  of  treatment.  It  was 
in  these  very  traditional  methods  that  the  doctor  found  one 
of  his  chief  difficulties.  Turpentine  was  regarded  as  a 
cure-all  and  had  been  applied  in  many  cases  where  it  did 
more  harm  than  good.  Called  to  treat  a  severely  burned 
arm  the  doctor  would  likely  find  that  a  "remedy"  had 
already  been  applied,  the  "remedy"  consisting  of  a  coating 
of  molasses  and  soot.  This,  of  course,  the  doctor  had  to 
remove  before  he  could  begin  any  constructive  work  on 


IN   THE   SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  23 

the  wound.  Often  he  found  severe  cuts  filled  with  lime  or 
soot,  "to  stop  the  flow  of  blood." 

Never  was  there  any  privacy  in  treating  patients.  When 
a  man  or  a  woman  fell  ill  and  the  doctor  was  finally  called, 
he  found  upon  his  arrival  that  the  house  was  filled  with 
neighbors  who  observed  his  every  move  with  intense  interest. 
''Watch  him!  Watch  him!"  passed  in  whispers  around  the 
circle  and  the  doctor's  every  act  was  performed  amid  a 
"cloud  of  witnesses."  At  first  he  was  regarded  with  sus- 
picion. Something  was  wrong,  folks  felt,  with  a  doctor 
who  would  come  into  that  remote  section.  Mountain 
children  scampered  into  the  brush  at  his  approach.  For  a 
long  time  some  of  the  older  folk  tried  to  catch  him  in  a  lie. 
But  his  modesty  and  sincerity  disarmed  the  suspicion  and 
when  they  discovered  that  the  doctor  was  a  religious  man 
and  occasionally  prayed  over  cases  that  he  felt  were  beyond 
his  normal  skill,  they  began  to  have  faith  in  him.  For 
the  mountain  people,  whatever  their  deliquencies,  are  re- 
ligious. The  Bible  is  their  one  book.  It  was  on  the  common 
ground  of  religion  that  they  met  and  understood  the 
doctor.  And  by  and  by  they  began  to  apply  to  him  a  high 
tribute:  "He's  common,"  by  which  they  meant  that  he  was 
democratic  and  they  had  taken  him  into  their  hearts. 

The  doctor's  first  case  was  a  bullet  wound  which  had  been 
received  at  a  wedding  celebration.  In  order  to  show  their 
good  will  a  number  of  neighbors  had  gathered  in  front  of 
the  cabin  of  the  bride  and  groom  and  were  dancing  around 
shooting  revolvers  into  the  air  and  into  the  ground.  One 
shot  entered  the  leg  of  a  mountain  man  and  the  doctor  was 
called  to  treat  him.  It  was  difficult  but  the  doctor  probed 
for  the  bullet  and  found  it;  then  he  carefully  bound  up 
the  wound  and  instructing  the  patient  in  its  care,  went  away. 
When  he  called  again  he  was  told  that  the  wound  was  not 
healing  properly  because  it  had  not  discharged  any  pus. 


24  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

The  discharge  of  pus  had  been  so  inevitable  in  the  local 
treatment  of  bullet  wounds  that  it  was  regarded  as  essential 
to  healing. 

The  doctor's  second  case  was  that  of  a  child  of  the  same 
family.  The  child  was  afflicted  with  membraneous  croup  in 
an  advanced  stage.  It  was  a  most  serious  case,  but  the 
doctor  took  special  interest  in  saving  the  lives  of  children, 
so  for  three  days  and  three  nights  he  stayed  with  the  child 
and  saw  it  through  to  safety. 

His  third  case  aroused  the  interest  of  the  community  for 
many  miles  around.  It  was  appendicitis  and  the  victim  was 
Jamison  Tweed,  a  man  of  seventy  years  and  very  large. 
But  he  was  an  old  soldier  and  had  no  more  than  the  average 
human  being's  fear  of  the  surgeon's  knife.  So  in  a  little 
frame  house  next  the  old  post  office  he  consented  to  be 
stretched  out  upon  a  table  while  a  preacher  administered 
ether  and  the  neighbors  gathered  in  a  crowd  to  watch  a 
surgical  operation  that  few,  if  any,  believed  could  possibly 
be  successful.  But  in  spite  of  all  the  handicaps  the  operation 
was  successful  and  Jamison  Tweed  is  to-day  sitting  on  his 
vine-covered  porch  telling  stories  of  the  Civil  War  and  call- 
ing a  friendly  word  to  passers-by. 

It  was  not  human  ills  alone  that  the  doctor  was  called  to 
treat.  Sickness  was  sickness  whether  in  man  or  animal, 
and  a  doctor's  business  was  to  heal  the  sick.  So  he  was 
called  upon  for  all  kinds  of  veterinary  work.  Not  an  easy 
case  was  that  of  a  horse  which  had  cut  its  throat  on  a 
barbed-wire  fence.  In  order  to  stop  the  flow  of  blood  the 
owner  had  filled  a  gunny  sack  with  manure  and  placed  it 
upon  the  wound. 

As  the  fame  of  the  doctor's  skill  spread  throughout  the 
Laurel  country  he  began  to  be  called  upon  more  and  more. 
Day  and  night  his  faithful  horse  could  be  seen  plodding 
along  the  trails  through  heat  or  rain  or  snow.   And  every  call 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  25 

now  meant  not  one  case  but  several,  for  when  the  doctor's 
horse  was  seen  in  a  given  neighborhood  the  news  passed 
from  cabin  to  cabin  and  from  creek  to  creek,  so  that  upon 
his  return  trip  the  doctor  would  find  a  number  of  patients 
waiting  along  his  homeward  trail.  To  facilitate  the  work 
in  the  several  communities  the  doctor  began  to  use  the  com- 
munity houses  Miss  Goodrich  had  established.  At  each  of 
these  he  held  a  clinic,  usually  once  a  week,  and  to  these 
clinics  the  neighbors  brought  their  sick.  Each  clinic  aver- 
aged from  five  to  fifteen  persons  treated,  and  the  cases 
ran  the  whole  range  of  general  practice  and  surgery.  He 
pulled  teeth  and  mended  broken  bones;  he  extracted  bullets 
and  allayed  fevers.  And  always  he  educated,  giving  friendly 
counsel  about  the  care  of  children  and  the  cooking  of  food, 
the  value  of  sanitation  and  the  virtue  of  right  living. 

As  his  practice  grew  a  nurse  was  sent  to  help  him.  Miss 
Mabel  Rich,  who  had  been  in  Red  Cross  service  in  Russia. 
We  cannot  do  justice  to  Miss  Rich  in  this  chapter 
but  some  day  her  story  will  be  written  and  it  will  be  a  story 
of  courage,  devotion,  and  service  worthy  of  the  highest 
traditions  of  American  womanhood.  And  the  other  nurses 
who  followed  later,  who  left  better  pay  in  the  cities,  and 
homes  of  refinement  to  give  their  youth  and  training  to  the 
service  of  those  who  needed  them  here  in  the  mountains  — 
Miss  Harrington  and  Miss  Gardner  —  what  shall  be  said  of 
them?  There  is  nothing  that  can  be  said  that  will  add  one 
whit  to  their  glory.  But  there  is  a  line  in  the  great  Book 
that  describes  them:  They  that  do  "such  things  make  it 
manifest  that  they  are  seeking  a  country  of  their  own 
wherefore  .  .  .  God  is  not  ashamed  of  them  to  be  called 
their  God." 

Five  years  have  passed.  There  on  the  side  of  a  mountain, 
just  over  the  old  post  office  where  the  first  school  was 
conducted  and  where  Jamison  Tweed  parted  with  his  ap- 


26  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

pendix,  stands  a  new  building.  It  is  the  Laurel  Hospital 
and  it  is  the  fruit  of  the  labor  of  Miss  Goodrich  and  Dr. 
Packard  and  the  teachers  and  community  workers  and 
nurses  who  have  been  putting  their  lives  into  this  country. 
It  cost  $30,000  and  most  of  this  amount  Miss  Goodrich 
begged.  The  local  contractors  and  the  sawmill  owners 
gave  generously  of  their  time  and  product.  The  mountain 
people  themselves  raised  a  fund  of  $700  —  not  an  insig- 
nificant amount  considering  the  scarcity  of  money  in  the 
mountains  —  to  help  to  pay  for  a  water  main  of  a  mile 
of  pipe  from  a  spring  on  top  the  mountain  into  the  hos- 
pital. The  building  was  planned  on  the  unit  plan  largely 
by  Mrs.  Packard  herself.  She  knew  hers  would  be  the 
task  of  housekeeper  and  matron  so  she  spared  no  pains 
in  seeing  to  it  that  the  hospital  was  modern  in  every  con- 
venience, that  closets  were  ample  and  rightly  located,  that 
steps  would  be  saved  wherever  possible.  Operating  room, 
consulting  room,  physicians'  apartments,  nurses'  apart- 
ment, kitchen,  and  dining  room  —  all  are  up-to-date  in 
design  and  appointment. 

And  there  in  a  line  winding  up  the  steps  to  the  porch  are 
some  fifty  or  sixty  children  waiting  their  turn  to  have  their 
weights  recorded  by  Dr.  Packard.  For  he  proposes  to 
keep  an  eye  on  every  child  in  order  that  he  may  detect 
incipient  diseases  and  prevent  them  from  getting  serious. 
And  these  are  the  children  who  when  the  doctor  first  came  to 
the  Laurel  Country  scampered  into  the  bushes  like  fright- 
ened rabbits  when  they  met  him  upon  the  road. 

And  the  patients  —  what  of  them?  Miss  Goodrich  writes 
of  the  first  ones: 

The  hospital,  all  unprepared,  had  its  first  patient  thrust 
upon  it.  One  day  in  May  shots  were  heard  close  by  in 
the  hollow,  and  then  cries,  and  more  shots  and  more.  Soon 
a  man  was  brought  up  to  the  hospital  doors,  filled  from  neck 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  27 

to  toe  literally,  with  squirrel  shot.  It  was  a  quarrel  be- 
tween brothers  over  the  trespassing  of  a  horse  in  a  wheat 
field.  The  victim  had  refrained  from  shooting  back,  though 
he  had  his  gun,  because  their  mother  had  run  in  between 
them. 

In  the  hospital  the  water  system  was  unfinished,  the  fur- 
nishings and  equipment  meager,  and  the  nurses  had  not 
yet  arrived.  Miss  Mabel  Rich,  who  was  so  long  with  Dr. 
Packard  and  who  was  being  released  for  public-health 
work,  gladly  came  to  help  in  the  emergency.  Some  of  the 
wounds  were  serious,  but  the  patient  made  a  good  recovery. 

Scarcely  had  he  gone  before  Miss  Rich  herself,  and  a 

young  friend,  Miss  S ,  were  brought  in  very  seriously 

injured,  the  buggy  in  which  they  were  driving  having  gone 
over  an  embankment  on  to  sharp  rocks  below.  Narrow 
mountain  roads,  horses,  and  Ford  cars  are  not  a  safe  com- 
ibination.  Our  nurses'  aide,  Miss  Thorpe,  had  arrived  that 
very  day  and  a  wire  hastened  the  coming  of  the  graduate 
nurse,  Miss  Griffith,  from  Maryland.    There  was  a  period 

of  sharp  anxiety  before  Miss  Rich  and  Miss  S could 

be  pronounced  convalescent. 

Then  a  young  man  with  typhoid  was  brought  in  from  one 
of  the  lumber  camps  and  soon  another  followed.  These 
proved  to  be  serious  cases,  and  for  a  long  time  the  issue 
was  doubtful.  Both  recovered  and  were  able  to  return  to 
their  homes  in  October.  Both  were  from  West  Virginia 
—  one  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister. 

One  night  at  twelve  o'clock  the  doorbell  rang  and  a  little 
girl  was  carried  in.  She  had  taken  a  drink  from  a  can 
of  concentrated  lye  and  it  seemed  at  first  a  hopeless  case. 
She  had  been  treated  by  the  neighbors  and  her  grandfather 
until  they  saw  her  getting  worse,  when  they  decided  to  make 
the  trip  to  the  new  hospital.  By  proper  treatment  and  good 
nursing  she  was  restored  to  health. 

Several  accident  cases  from  the  logging  camps  have  been 
in  for  short  periods,  thus  receiving  in  the  first  hours  of  their 
injuries  adequate  attention  and  care.  A  man  who  came  in 
for  a  few  days  with  a  hand  badly  hurt,  necessitating  ampu- 
tation of  two  fingers,  said  to  Miss  Thorpe  the  first  night, 
'T  never  thought  anybody  could  be  so  good  to  anyone  as 
you  are  to  me,  a  stranger." 


28  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Soon  after  this  our  first  hospital  baby  was  born,  and  later, 
two  more.  These  were  all  cases  where  special  care  and 
skill  were  needed.  It  is  one  of  the  wonders  that  Dr.  Packard 
has  performed,  that  in  the  first  case,  especially,  mother  and 
child  are  both  living  and  well. 

The  first  death  in  the  hospital  was  from  old  age.  Granny 
Banks  was  "by  way  of  being  a  doctor  herself,"  and  pro- 
fessional jealousy  made  her  bitter  against  Dr.  Packard  and 
his  nurses.  Her  greeting  to  them  on  the  road  was  a  curse. 
She  adjured  more  than  one  of  her  friends  to  see  to  it  that 
when  her  time  came  she  did  not  die  with  any  doctor's 
stuff  inside  her.  But  when  she  fell  ill  at  last  she  told  her 
grandson  to  send  for  Dr.  Packard,  he  might  give  her 
"some  tea"  that  would  make  her  well.  A  stroke  came  before 
the  doctor  was  sent  for,  and  it  was  with  her  good  will 
that  she  was  carried  into  the  building  toward  which  she 
had  cast  so  many  evil  glances.  She  was  made  comfortable 
for  the  ten  days  of  gradual  sinking  till  "her  change  came." 
Her  grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren  would  climb  the 
steps  and  tiptoe  through  the  halls  to  stand  and  look  at 
granny  lying  unconscious  and  to  say  how  much  better  off 
she  was  than  they  could  have  made  her. 

There  was  a  shooting  down  on  the  creek  one  night  and 
after  some  days'  delay  the  victim  was  brought  in,  and  then 
taken  to  Asheville  for  an  X  rays.  One  bullet  was  lodged  in 
the  back  of  the  neck,  another  in  the  back,  both  too  near  the 
spinal  cord  to  be  extracted  with  safety.  So  back  to  the 
Laurel  Hospital  he  was  brought,  to  die,  as  everyone  said, 
but  he  lived  and  slowly  recovered  the  use  of  his  limbs,  and 
when  finally  discharged,  was  able  to  walk  out  of  the  build- 
ing. I  saw  him  on  the  road  the  other  day,  husky  and  hearty 
looking. 

No  human  being  could  take  charge  of  such  a  hospital  and 
continue  to  do  the  "outside  work"  as  well  —  driving  over  the 
mountains  all  hours  of  the  days  and  nights  seeking  the  sick 
and  distressed.  Dr.  Packard  tried  it  and  his  health  broke. 
That  is  why  he  was  sent  away  for  a  vacation.  It  explains, 
also,  the  coming  of  Dr.  Holden  to  take  care  of  the  outside 


IN   THE   SOUTHERN   MOUNTAINS  29 

work  and  to  help  Dr.  Packard  in  the  hospital.  Dr.  Holden 
had  seen  service  in  France  and  was  looking  for  just  such  an 
opportunity  to  put  his  life  into  some  new  field. 

Just  why  Mrs.  Packard  has  not  broken  down  is  not  quite 
clear.  "Mrs.  Packard,"  said  her  husband,  "is  a  wonder. 
She  not  only  planned  this  hospital  but  she  runs 
it.  Everything  is  in  order  and  always  ready.  Last  year 
when  we  had  twenty-five  doctors  and  nurses  down  here 
from  Asheville  for  a  two-day  clinic  she  took  care  of  every 
one  of  them  without  any  hitch  in  the  machinery."  Proudly 
she  takes  visitors  down  into  the  storeroom  and,  opening 
the  doors  of  the  closet,  discloses  more  than  five-hundred 
quarts  of  canned  fruits  and  vegetables  all  standing  like  little 
soldiers  at  attention.  For  fear  her  hands  may  get  into 
some  mischief  this  year,  Mrs.  Packard  has  planned  to 
provide  hot  lunches  for  the  140  school  children  who  have 
come  to  the  new  school  building  across  the  road. 

"How  about  yourself,  doctor?"  the  writer  asked.  "Now 
that  your  vacation  is  over  and  Dr.  Holden  will  take  the 
outside  work,  aren't  you  glad  you  won't  have  so  many  of 
those  lonely  night  rides  on  horseback  over  the  mountains?" 

He  smiled.  "They  were  never  lonely"  he  said.  "You 
see  I  always  had  some  sixty  friends  along." 

"Sixty  friends?" 

"Yes,  Orion,  the  Pleiades,  Andromeda,  Ursa  Major  and 
Minor,  Cassiopeia  —  "  and  he  reeled  off  a  list  of  his  stellar 
friends  as  if  they  were  his  cronies.  He  is  "common"  with 
the  stars. 

There  you  have  a  picture  of  Dr.  Packard,  on  his  faithful 
horse  riding  along  over  the  mountains  in  the  dead  of  night 
communing  with  stars  and  bound  for  a  distant  cabin  where 
some  one,  very  likely  a  child,  is  awaiting  his  healing  touch. 

Presbyterian  Schools  in  the  Southern  Mountains. 
No  stronger  factor  for  the  regeneration  of  the  backward 


30  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

and  isolated  community  in  the  Southern  Mountains  could 
be  found  than  the  educational  work  the  Church  is  doing. 
Should  you  take  a  map  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  North 
Carolina  and  mark  on  it  the  points  at  which  the  boarding 
schools  in  this  field  are  located  you  would  find  that  there 
are  ten  such  schools  stamped  with  the  name  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  These  schools  vary  one  from  another 
in  size,  in  emphasis,  and  in  course  of  study  but  never  in 
purpose,  for  the  development  of  a  Christian  leadership  is 
the  aim  of  all. 

A  visit  to  any  one  of  these  would  show  that  although 
the  standard  is  high  as  is  befitting  the  work  of  the  Church 
there  is  a  uniqueness  in  education  that  challenges  attention. 
And  the  reason  for  this  is  apparent.  For  not  only  must 
the  course  of  study  conform  to  that  prescribed  for  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  the  state,  but  it  must  be  so  general  on  the 
one  hand  and  so  intensive  on  the  other  that  no  boy  or  girl, 
however  limited  in  previous  opportunities,  can  fail  to  get 
that  which  will  develop  the  best  in  him  or  her,  and  no  com- 
munity fail  to  receive  later  through  the  training  of  this 
boy  or  girl,  what  it  has  a  right  to  expect  from  having  one 
of  its  number  "away  at  school."  Back  of  every  boy  and 
girl  is  the  community,  and  the  community  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  in  the  educational  program. 

The  Purpose  of  These  Schools.  "It  is  the  pecuHar 
province  of  the  mission  school  to  educate  and  'applicate,' " 
writes  Dr.  Calfee,  President  of  the  Asheville  Normal  and 
Associated  Schools,  and  then  he  goes  on  to  say:  "It  does 
more  than  look  after  the  needy  individual.  It  fits  that  per- 
son for  the  transmission  of  knowledge  and  ideals  for  trans- 
forming and  uplifting  those  back  home.  Any  other  policy 
would  sink  to  the  low  aim  of  isolated  individual  uplift." 
Should  you  question  him  he  would  probably  explain  this  by 


IN   THE   SOUTHERN   MOUNTAINS  31 

showing  you,  for  instance,  the  following  courses  in  arith- 
metic outlined  in  the  school  catalogue. 

Arithmetic  of  the  Home  —  Family  budget,  cost  accounts, 
household  economics,  dietary  sanitation.  Arithmetic  of  the 
Farm  —  Farm  accounts,  land  measure,  lumber  measure, 
mensuration,  painting,  papering,  et  cetera,  dairy  prob- 
lems, crops,  cost  of  wastefulness  versus  thrift.  Arithmetic 
of  Trade  —  Making  change,  quick  methods,  discounts,  in- 
voices, profit  and  loss.  Arithmetic  of  the  Bank  —  Interest, 
bank  accounts,  promissory  notes,  bank  discount.  Arith- 
metic of  Community  and  Civic  Life  —  Good  roads,  taxes, 
insurance,  investments. 

And  while  he  talked,  you  would  see  what  he  is  seeing  all 
the  time  —  the  limited  family  budget,  the  insanitary  home, 
the  poor  hillside  farm  against  which  there  has  never  been 
reckoned  either  profit  or  loss,  the  stony  road  that  crosses  and 
recrosses  the  creek  as  it  winds  its  way  up  the  mountain  side 
to  each  tiny  cabin,  and  you  would  feel  with  him  that  there 
could  be  no  "isolated  individual  uplift"  in  the  schools  in 
which  you  were  interested. 

Their  Method  —  Practical  Banking,  for  Example. 
He  would  explain  that  not  only  do  they  teach  banking  at 
the  Asheville  Normal,  but  they  do  banking  —  in  fact  they 
are  bankers,  and  he  would  describe  the  students'  thrift  bank, 
in  organization  similar  to  that  of  a  national  bank,  with 
president,  cashier,  and  board  of  directors;  with  regular 
banking  hours,  at  which  time  deposits  are  made  and  checks 
from  ten  cents  up  are  cashed;  with  directors'  meetings  at 
stated  times  when  plans  are  made  to  increase  the  number  of 
depositors,  when  the  financial  standing  of  the  bank  is  ex- 
amined, when  action  is  taken  as  to  what  loans  and  invest- 
ments should  be  made. 

Home-Making.  All  this  would  seem  very  business-like 
and  you  would  probably  commend  it,  but  after  all  the  Ashe- 


32  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

ville  Normal  is  a  girls'  school  and  you  would  certainly  want 
to  know  what  particular  training  is  being  given  to  the  moun- 
tain girl  to  fit  her  for  the  home.  And  President  Calfee 
would  tell  you  that  when  the  first  school  on  the  Asheville 
campus,  the  Home  School,  was  opened  by  Miss  Florence 
Stephenson  thirty-four  years  ago,  much  thought  was  given 
to  training  that  would  fit  the  girls  for  home-making  and  that 
every  year  since  that  time  more  and  more  thought  had 
been  given  to  it  until  now  the  Normal  has  not  only  full  and 
detailed  courses  on  domestic  science  and  art,  but  also  a 
practical  and  applied  course  in  household  management,  in- 
cluding cooking,  nutrition,  sanitation,  laundry  work.  In  the 
Normal,  as  in  all  schools  under  our  Church,  the  housework 
is  so  organized  that  by  a  system  of  rotation  during  the 
year  each  pupil  is  given  training  in  the  care  of  the  entire 
home.  This  practical  instruction  amounts  to  about  two 
hours  a  day,  and  each  pupil  is  graded  as  strictly  upon 
her  house  duties  as  she  is  upon  her  classroom  work.  But 
more  than  this:  in  at  least  four  schools  in  the  moun- 
tain field  home-making  is  taught  by  an  even  more  direct 
method  than  a  share  in  the  care  of  the  school  home,  for  a 
plan  has  been  worked  out  by  which  life  may  be  really 
lived. 

Suppose  You  Take  Dinner  in  a  Cottage.  You  are 
a  guest  at  the  Normal  School  and  an  invitation  comes  to 
you  to  dine  at  the  mountain  cottage  across  the  street  from 
the  campus.  You  will  be  welcomed  at  the  door  by  an  ex- 
tremely young  housemother;  you  will  be  given  a  favorite 
chair  by  the  fire,  and  one  by  one  five  girls  will  slip  in 
to  greet  you  and  then  slip  away  again.  Probably  when 
they  are  gone,  and  you  question  the  housemother  she 
will  tell  you  that  she  is  the  mother  for  the  week 
of  a  family  of  seven,  one  a  teacher;  if  you  press 
the   point,    she    will    tell    you    modestly    that    she    plans 


IN   THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  33 

all  the  meals  for  this  family,  keeps  an  itemized  cost  of  each 
meal,  makes  all  purchases  for  the  house,  supervises  the  home, 
and  when  the  day's  work,  including  lessons,  is  done,  conducts 
family  prayers.  At  dinner  you  will  have  the  privilege  of 
dining  with  the  cook,  the  milkmaid,  the  dishwashers,  and  the 
other  workers  in  the  household.  Even  though  a  guest  you 
will  be  told  with  pride  the  cost  of  your  dinner  and  graciously 
allowed  to  see  the  homemaker's  itemized  account  of  which 
you  have  heard.  It  would  be  necessary  for  you  to  see  it  or 
you  would  not  believe  that  so  delicious  a  dinner  could  be 
served  to  eight  people  for  sixty-six  cents.  You  would 
realize,  of  course,  that  even  at  that  cost  the  homemaker 
had  been  guilty  of  gross  extravagance  because  there  was  a 
guest,  when  you  heard  that  only  seven  cents  a  meal  per 
person  is  allowed.  This  is  the  plan:  The  senior  class  takes 
turns  by  sixes  in  living  in  the  model  cottage  on  the  campus ; 
at  the  beginning  of  each  six-week  period  each  cottage  is 
given  an  allowance  of  twenty-one  cents  a  day  per  person, 
from  which  the  six  must  maintain  their  home  in  every  re- 
spect. In  connection  with  the  cottage  there  are  chickens 
and  a  cow,  these  to  be  cared  for  by  the  homemakers.  There 
is  no  additional  allowance  for  these,  so  they  must  be  made 
to  maintain  their  own  expenses,  all  profits  to  go  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  home.  Problems  of  vital  importance  to 
every  home,  such  as  proper  distribution  of  income,  food 
budgets,  balanced  diet,  thrift  and  economy,  hygiene  and 
sanitation  are  studied  in  a  scientific  way  —  an  extremely 
direct  method  of  teaching  the  mountain  girl  what  she  should 
know. 

Asheville  Normal  Trains  Teachers  and  Mission- 
aries as  Well  as  Home  Makers.  A  survey  of  one  of  the 
largest  counties  in  North  Carolina  will  show  that  fifty  per 
cent  of  the  teachers  were  educated  in  the  Asheville  Normal ; 
a  survey  of  the  whole  state  will  reveal  the  fact  that  182 


34  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

former  pupils  are  teaching  in  the  state.  As  these  girls  have 
been  trained  especially  for  just  such  positions  through  their 
courses  in  rural  sociology,  the  result  is  twofold;  first,  a 
large  mission  school  enrollment  of  girls  from  away  back 
in  our  mountains,  and  second,  the  community  is  led  along 
lines  of  progress  in  church,  home,  public  health,  in  local 
industries,  farm  machinery,  recreation,  good  roads.  Ashe- 
ville  trains  missionaries  too,  and  we  find  its  graduates 
—  fourteen  from  two  classes  alone  —  in  the  service  of  the 
Church  not  only  in  our  own  land  from  Alaska  to  Porto  Rico, 
and  Cuba  but  also  overseas. 

Curriculum  Fitted  to  the  Need.  The  author  has 
said  that  the  ten  schools  differ  in  size;  they  do.  One  has  an 
enrollment  of  90,  another  115,  a  third  175,  the  largest  225. 
They  also  differ  in  emphasis  and  course  of  study.  Manual 
training,  gardening,  agriculture,  and  pruning  and  grafting 
of  trees  are  taught  in  the  girls'  schools  because  of  the  piti- 
able needs  of  these  in  the  communities  from  which  the  girls 
come  and  the  opportunity  for  leadership  in  home  improve- 
ment and  farm  development  which  they  may  afford.  The 
schools  for  boys  stress  the  former  in  order  that  they  may 
receive  not  only  the  necessary  instruction  in  agriculture, 
fruit-growing,  dairying,  and  gardening,  but  the  incentive 
to  return  to  their  homes  and  develop  their  small  mountain 
farms  in  a  way  that  will  be  of  profit  to  them  and  an  example 
to  the  community.  This  is  done  through  clubs,  some 
organized  on  the  plan  of  country  poultry  clubs,  pig  clubs, 
etc.,  and  others  on  the  so-called  project  plan.  The  pig  and 
poultry  clubs,  composed  of  younger  boys  not  yet  ready  to 
handle  as  large  an  undertaking  as  a  "project,"  follow  the 
plan  of  having  each  boy  raise  a  pig  or  a  few  chickens. 
Under  the  "project"  plan  a  boy  takes  over  and  manages 
all  the  pigs  or  chickens  on  the  place  under  the  supervision 
of  the  rural  teacher.    In  the  com  "project"  nine  or  ten  boys 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  35 

prepare  the  ground,  plant,  raise,  and  market  about  fifty 
acres  of  corn  under  the  direction  of  a  teacher  of  agriculture 
and  the  supervision  of  a  capable  farm  manager.  The  boys 
also  take  a  course  on  soils  and  corn  culture.  The  garden 
"project"  is  conducted  in  much  the  same  way,  each  boy 
looking  after  about  one  half  an  acre.  Each  boy  in  a  club 
or  "project"  takes  a  classroom  course  in  his  particular  sub- 
ject, the  club  being  a  practical  laboratory  in  which  he  applies 
the  knowledge  gained  from  the  teacher  and  the  text.  In  the 
club  he  does  on  a  small  sample-plot  scale  what  he  is  ex- 
pected to  do  on  a  larger  scale  on  his  hillside  farm  when 
he  returns  to  his  home  in  the  mountains. 

The  Unfinished  Task  in  the  Southern  Mountains. 
Fascinating  as  the  stories  of  White  Rock  and  Asheville 
are,  they  are  only  two  of  many  places  in  the  Southern  Moun- 
tains where  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  at  work.  A  heroic 
story  will  some  day  be  written  of  Miss  Helen  Dingman  and 
her  remarkable  community  and  cooperative  store  work  at 
Smith,  Kentucky.  Our  community  centers,  hospitals,  and 
schools  are  scattered  widely  through  North  Carolina,  Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky,  Virginia,  and  West  Virginia,  and  each 
place  has  an  inspiring  story  of  its  own  —  a  story  of  glar- 
ing needs,  of  insurmountable  difficulties,  of  lives  poured 
into  hard  work  and  goals  sometimes  unreached  —  yet 
for  all  that  our  task  has  just  begun.  In  the  Ozarks 
and  Southern  Appalachians  there  are  about  3,000,000 
Americans,  the  great  majority  of  whom  have  not  had 
the  opportunities  for  education,  for  health,  or  for  hap- 
piness that  the  rest  of  us  have  enjoyed.  Although  they  are 
the  descendants  of  pure  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  they  have  been 
shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  lack  of  roads 
and  transportation  facilities.  The  march  of  progress  has 
passed  them  by.  Until  recently  their  schools  have  been 
conducted  for  only  a  few  weeks  in  the  year.    For  the  most 


36  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

part  the  people  have  been  without  the  help  of  trained  nurses, 
doctors,  teachers,  or  educated  ministers. 

More  Hospitals  and  Dispensaries  Needed.  At  White 
Rock,  the  hospital's  work  has  just  begun.  That  hospital 
must  be  maintained,  for  it  has  decades  of  work  before  it  in 
building  up  the  bodies  and  minds  of  the  younger  generations. 
And  remember  that  it  serves  at  best  a  few  thousand  —  while 
there  are  3,000,000  altogether  to  be  reached. 

We  must  have  more  such  hospitals.  Where  it  is  impos- 
sible for  the  Church  to  build  and  sustain  them  it  should 
at  least  erect  less  expensive  dispensaries  like  that  at  Smith, 
Kentucky,  where  emergency  cases  of  the  community  are 
brought  and  where  at  clinics  people  may  learn  their  ail- 
ments, study  remedies,  and  carry  information  with  them 
back  into  the  mountains.  This  is  the  way  actually  to  tackle 
their  health  problems.  We  must  provide  the  dispensaries 
with  nurses,  arrange  for  regular  visitation  of  them  by 
physicians  called  in  to  meet  stated  appointments.  We  must 
make  these  dispensaries  medical  centers  in  the  mountains. 

Community  Houses.  And  while  the  hospitals  and  dis- 
pensaries are  materializing,  the  Church  must  make  the  most 
of  the  medical  end  of  its  community-house  work.  Every 
community  worker  possesses  a  closet  of  medicines,  gauze, 
and  antiseptics  and  a  supply  of  common  sense.  She  is  a 
wise  administrator  of  common  remedies  and  a  nurse,  un- 
trained though  she  may  be,  for  the  region  round  about. 
Accidents  are  brought  to  her,  wounds,  cases  of  poisoning 
such  as  snake  bites  and  poison  ivy.  She  is  always  the  ex- 
tender of  ''first  aid."  There  is  not  an  hour  in  the  day  that 
some  one  fails  to  solicit  her  help  in  some  form  or  other. 

Yet  the  community  house  tries  to  be  more  than  that. 
In  a  smaller  way  it  tries  to  be  what  the  hospital  and  dis- 
pensary really  are  —  a  base  from  which  instruction  is  given 
in  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  prevention  of  disease  along 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  37 

creeks  and  valleys  where  for  miles  and  miles  there  is  neither 
a  toilet  in  existence  nor  a  window  screened. 

Medically  here  is  the  task  of  the  Church:  (i)  To 
care  for  the  sick  of  several  millions  of  mountaineers  away  up 
in  what  Horace  Kephart  calls  "the  back  of  beyond,"  where 
surgical  cases  requiring  immediate  attention  must  be  carried 
on  stretchers  over  fords  and  rocky  paths  to  the  distant  rail- 
roads. (2)  To  give  instruction  to  hidden  multitudes  de- 
pendent upon  old  women's  remedies,  herbs,  mud  and  manure 
poultices,  and  the  like.  (3)  To  teach  them  the  clean,  sani- 
tary methods  of  life. 

Education.  The  Rock  of  Gibraltar  which  ever  stands 
forth  unconquerable  before  the  mountaineers  is  money. 
These  people  have  just  enough  to  employ  untrained  teachers 
who  have  not  had  schooling  beyond  the  seventh  grade 
primary,  and  sometimes  not  even  that,  the  length  of  the 
school  year  being  determined  by  the  amount  of  money  in  the 
county  treasury  —  a  sum  that  divided  among  the  teachers 
allows  about  $200  to  $300  a  teacher,  and  when  spent  re- 
quires the  shutting  up  of  the  school  for  the  rest  of  the 
year.  There  are  seventy  to  one  hundred  children  turned 
loose  for  nine  or  ten  months  during  which  they  forget  the 
little  they  have  learned. 

But  the  Church  coming  to  the  rescue  sends  its  workers 
over  to  the  schoolhouse  to  fill  out  eight  or  nine 
months,  thus  saving  these  little  folks  from  swelling  the 
multitudes  of  illiterates.  And  when  the  schools  are  too 
poor  and  the  teachers  too  ignorant,  the  parents  of  these 
children  are  encouraged  to  send  them  to  our  denominational 
schools  such  as  Borland  Bell  at  Hot  Springs,  North  Caro- 
lina, or  the  Pease  House  and  the  Home  School  at  Asheville, 
from  which  they  may  go  to  the  Normal  and  Collegiate 
Institute  —  one  of  the  finest  institutions  of  the  South. 

To  discontinue  this  method  of  procedure  while  the  moun- 


38  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

tain  people  have  so  little  money  with  which  to  run  their 
schools  would  not  alone  take  from  them  the  example  of  a 
superior  school  which  our  Church  supplies  but  cause  cries 
of  resentment  and  depair  through  a  thousand  ranges  of  the 
Southern  Mountains.  While  there  are  coves  where  teach- 
ers do  not  know  enough  to  teach  beyond  the  fourth  grade 
primary;  while  parents  confidently  tell  you  their  children 
have  learned  all  the  teacher  knows  and  they  are  helping 
their  children  with  their  books;  while  there  is  money  enough 
to  keep  the  schools  open  only  a  few  weeks  in  the  year  —  the 
Church  must  continue  to  fill  the  breach.  In  the  meantime 
the  work  of  our  Country  Life  Department  is  cut  out  for  it. 
It  must  so  encourage  the  use  of  modern  methods  in  getting 
prosperity  from  the  soil  that  these  folks  may  some  day 
say  to  the  Boards  of  the  Church:  "Thank  God  for  your 
help,  and  that  through  your  help  we  are  at  last  able  to  help 
ourselves." 

Religion.  The  churches  in  the  Southern  Mountains 
practically  all  belong  to  the  emotional  group.  To  them 
religion  is  feeling;  it  is  shouting;  it  is  a  certain  emotional 
experience;  it  is  getting  the  Holy  Spirit,  standing  up  in 
meeting  and  speaking  with  tongues,  clapping  the  hands, 
and  stamping  the  feet.  The  further  you  go  back  into  the 
mountains,  the  more  is  religion  viewed  as  an  experience  of 
emotion.  The  work  of  the  Church  cannot  halt  until  its 
ministers  entering  these  valleys  and  coves  have  taught  the 
mountaineers  that  emotion  has  its  place  in  religion,  but 
without  life  it  is  but  "sounding  brass,  or  a  clanging  cymbal." 
A  sane  and  well-balanced  religion  of  faith  and  love,  a  re- 
ligion not  of  ecstasy  but  of  brotherhood  and  service  —  this 
is  the  duty  and  the  privilege  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
to  share  with  the  southern  mountaineers.  And  this  we  are 
giving  them  through  the  intelligent  unfolding  of  Bible 
truth  in  the  Sunday  schools  which  we  have  planted  here  and 


IN    THE    SOUTHERN    MOUNTAINS  39 

there,  like  oases  in  a  desert  of  ignorance ;  through  the  whole- 
some example  and  ministry  of  doctors,  teachers,  and  com- 
munity workers;  through  the  sane  counsel  of  trained  pas- 
tors. 

/ 


Questions  for  Discussion 

I.  What  states  are  included  in  "the  Southern  Mountains"? 
how  many  people?  of  what  racial  origin? 

2.  Why  has  their  social  progress  been  slow? 

3.  Describe  the  roads  of  a  mountain  community ;  the 

houses;  the  stores;  the  public  buildings;  the  schools. 

4.  Describe  a  mountain  home  as  to  equipment  and  degree 

of  privacy. 

5.  Illustrate  the  school  work  in  a  mountain  community 

showing  the  practical  and  financial  difficulties  and 
the  way  in  which  these  may  be  overcome, 

6.  How  great  is  the  need  of  medical  work  in  the  moun- 

tains?   Make  a  list  of  the  obstacles  a  doctor  would 
have  to  face.    To  what  extent  could  he  succeed? 

7.  Indicate  the  type  of  religious  work  among  the  moun- 

taineers. 

8.  What  other  missionary  projects  in  the  Southern  Moun- 

tains is  the  Presbyterian  Church  conducting? 


CHAPTER   II 

AMONG  SPANISH-SPEAKING  PEOPLES 

(a)  Mexicans  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

(b)  Porto  Ricans 

(c)  Cubans 


MEXICANS   IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

THE    CHALLENGE 
0£  the  Field 

In  Mexico  the  revolution  which  began  in  191 3 
brought  want  and  desolation :  in  the  United  States  the 
World  War  opened  doors  of  opportunity  to  the  com- 
mon laborer.  It  was  a  day  when  railroads  were  pushed 
to  their  utmost  capacity,  and  unnumbered  miles  of 
track  must  be  kept  in  condition;  a  day  when  a  stac- 
cato of  bursting  shells  made  copper  king. 

And  so  into  the  mines  of  Arizona,  the  orchards  of 
California,  and  the  ranches  of  Texas,  Mexicans 
swarmed  in  vast  hordes.  Behind  was  the  urge  of 
want;  ahead,  the  lure  of  plenty  of  work  at  fabulous 
wages.  To-day  an  eighth  of  Mexico's  population  is 
living  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Added  to  this 
number  are  the  thousands  of  contract  laborers  who 
come  to  work  in  the  cotton  camps  and  the  beet  fields, 
and  return  to  Mexico  when  the  crops  have  been 
gathered. 

The  mere  presence  of  so  many  foreigners  is  in 
itself  enough  of  a  problem;  but  when  we  consider  the 
fact  that  a  definite  propaganda  against  Americaniza- 
tion is  going  on  among  them,  the  situation  immedi- 
ately becomes  more  complex.  Mazes  of  misunder- 
standing, dating  from  the  War  of  1848,  must  be  re- 
moved; the  clouds  of  suspicion  and  hatred  must  be 
dispelled;  standards  of  living  must  be  raised;  and 
above  all  we  must  preach  the  Christ  who  enthrones 
conscience  and  teaches  self-control. 

And  the  business  requires  haste.  These  people  have 
changed  their  homes,  their  work,  their  surroundings, 
their  philosophy  of  life.  Most  of  them  have  cast 
aside  their  faith  and  their  hearts  are  empty.  Unless 
Christ  can  be  brought  into  the  house  that  is  swept  and 
garnished,  the  last  state  of  these  people  will  be  worse 
than  the  first. 


MEXICANS   IN   THE   UNITED   STATES 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  an  evange- 
listic and  social  service  work  among  Spanish-speaking 
people  is  being  carried  on  in  twenty  stations  in  Cali- 
fornia, tiHeen  in  Arizona,  twenty-seven  in  New  Mex- 
ico, thirteen  in  Colorado,  and  seven  in  Texas.  For 
the  efficient  conduct  of  this  work  one  superintendent, 
twenty-six  ordained  ministers,  and  six  women  workers 
are  employed.  A  summer  camp  for  Mexican  boys  is 
maintained  on  Catalina  Island,  where  from  £fty  to 
seventy-five  lads  each  summer  are  learning  the  better 
side  of  America  —  our  ideals  and  our  religion. 

Through  the  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions, 
three  boarding  schools,  eight  day  schools,  one  hospi- 
tal, and  two  medical  stations  are  maintained.  The 
boarding  schools  are:  Allison-James  School  at  Santa 
Fe,  Menaul  School  at  Albuquerque,  and  Forsythe 
Memorial  School  at  Los  Angeles.  The  day  schools 
are:  in  Colorado,  San  Juan  at  Mogote;  in  New  Mex- 
ico, Agua  Negra  at  Hoi  man,  Alice  Hyson  Mission  at 
Ranches  of  Taos,  El  Prado  de  Taos  at  Taos,  El  Rito 
at  Chacon,  Embudo  at  Dixon,  John  Hyson  Memorial 
at  Chimayo,  and  Truchas.  The  hospital  is  at  Brook- 
lyn Cottage,  Dixon,  and  the  medical  stations  at  Pe- 
nasco  and  Trementina,  New  Mexico. 

Through  these  channels  the  Presbyterian  Church  is 
reaching  a  few  thousand  Mexicans  each  year  —  but 
the  Mexicans  are  pouring  into  the  country  by  hun- 
dreds of  thousands. 


Chapter   II 

AMONG   SPANISH-SPEAKING   PEOPLES 

(a)  Mexicans  in  the  United  States 

An  Investment  in  Mexican  Flesh  and  Blood.  In- 
vestments in  Mexico  are  not  excessively  popular  these  days. 
It  requires  both  faith  and  courage  to  sink  money  into 
Mexican  oil  or  minerals.  It  demands  equal  faith  and 
courage  to  sink  money  into  Mexican  life  and  character,  even 
on  this  side  of  the  border.  But  years  of  acquaintanceship 
with  the  Mexican  people  have  not  lessened  either  the  faith 
or  the  courage  of  our  missionaries  along  the  border.  Let 
us  take  as  a  representative  of  them  Dr,  Robert  N.  McLean 
of  Los  Angeles.  Camp  Juarez  on  Catalina  Island  was  one 
of  his  Mexican  investments. 

The  Mexican  situation,  according  to  Dr.  McLean,  is 
about  ten  per  cent  Mexico's  fault  and  ten  per  cent  our 
fault;  the  rest  is  due  to  mutual  misunderstanding.  He 
established  the  camp  on  Catalina  Island  to  help  to  develop 
leadership  among  the  Mexicans.  If  these  boys  can  be 
persuaded  what  real  Americanism  means,  there  will  be  less 
chance  of  their  misunderstanding  us  when  they  are  men. 

You  cannot  listen  to  Dr.  McLean  without  feeling  con- 
vinced that  he  knows  what  he  is  talking  about.  However 
differently  he  may  see  the  Mexican  problem  from  the  usual 
newspaper  article,  you  have  no  doubt  of  his  sincerity  and 
of  his  loyalty  to  this  country.     In  fact,  you  come  away 

44 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       45 

feeling  that  he  is  a  far  better  representative  of  America 
than  the  sensational  reporter  who  pictures  Mexico  as  a  na- 
tion of  bandits. 

So  great  is  Dr.  McLean's  conception  of  the  Mexican 
problem  that  he  is  putting  in  his  life,  as  his  father  did 
before  him,  trying  to  help  solve  it.  From  Colorado  to  the 
coast  and  all  along  the  border,  he  is  constantly  at  work 
among  the  1,750,000  Mexicans  in  this  country.  He  believes 
in  the  Mexicans.  To  him  they  are  the  modern  counterpart 
of  the  Samaritans  of  Jesus'  day.  As  Jesus  saw  the  better 
nature  of  the  Samaritan,  McLean  sees  the  better  nature 
of  the  Mexican.  Certain  it  is  that  America  has  in  these 
people  a  large  alien  element  and  they  can  never  be  assimi- 
lated until  we  recognize  the  best  in  them  and  they  recog- 
nize the  best  in  us,  and  we  make  up  our  minds  to  be  friends. 
Many  of  them  are  loyal  to  America  now.  The  State  of  New 
Mexico  lost  more  sons  of  Spanish  blood  upon  the  fields  of 
France  than  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood.  Yet  there  are  great 
hosts  of  new  arrivals  to  be  assimilated.  A  large  element 
in  this  population  is  transitory.  Men  come  over  for  a  few 
months  or  years  and  then  return  to  Mexico.  Many  parents 
of  wealthy  and  middle-class  families  are  bringing  their 
children  to  the  United  States  for  education.  Thousands  of 
laborers  are  brought  over  each  year  ^'in  bond"  to  do  some 
specific  work.  They  thus  avoid  payment  of  the  eight  dol- 
lars per  capita  tax  at  the  port  of  entry,  but  must  return 
as  soon  as  their  work  is  completed.  Every  one  of  these 
laborers  as  he  goes  back,  every  one  of  the  young  students 
returning  from  his  American  education,  is  a  missionary  of 
either  good  or  ill  will  to  America.  For  better  or  worse 
every  one  of  them  is  an  ambassador.  And  his  treatment  in 
this  country  determines  which  gospel  he  will  preach. 

The  primary  need  has  been  and  is  for  young  Mexicans, 
intelligent,  unselfish,  devoted  to  their  people,  yet  American 


46  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

in  spirit  and  aim.  They,  and  they  only,  can  lead  our  Latin- 
Americans  in  the  Southwest  to  the  place  in  the  American 
Commonwealth  which  they  deserve.  To  develop  young 
Mexicans  of  this  type  was  the  purpose  of  the  experiment  on 
Catalina  Island.  Over  fifty  young  Mexicans  ranging  from 
twelve  to  twenty  years  of  age,  some  from  homes  of  poverty, 
some  from  homes  of  comfort,  some  from  factories,  and 
some  from  berry  fields  and  orange  groves,  sailed  into  Avalon 
Bay  and  pitched  their  tents  along  the  beach  on  the  lee- 
ward side  of  the  island.  Dr.  McLean  had  had  some  fear 
that  the  Mexican  boys  would  not  enjoy  camping.  The. 
love  of  the  out  of  doors  is  not  rooted  in  them  as  it  is  in 
Anglo-Saxons.  They  had  been  wont  instead  to  find  their 
pleasures  in  theaters  and  dance  halls  of  cities  and  towns. 
But  the  fear  proved  groundless  and  though  this  was  the 
first  camp  in  this  country  ever  conducted  exclusively  for 
Mexican  boys,  and  though  camping  was  an  entirely  novel 
experience  to  them,  their  enjoyment  was  as  keen  and  their 
spirit  as  dauntless  as  that  of  experienced  campers. 

The  call  for  a  morning  dip  roused  them  from  their  blan- 
kets at  6.00  A.M.  Dressing,  flag-raising,  setting-up  drill,  and 
breakfast  followed  in  rapid  succession. 

After  breakfast  an  hour  was  allowed  for  camp  duties; 
one  tent  was  given  the  privilege  of  washing  the  dishes, 
another  of  gathering  and  chopping  wood  for  the  cook. 

Inspection  coming  at  ten  o'clock  was  the  great  event  of 
the  morning.  For  some  time  beforehand,  the  boys  had  been 
engaged  in  sweeping  every  speck  of  dirt  from  the  canvas 
floor  of  the  tent,  reefing  its  walls  tightly  and  smartly, 
clearing  the  surrounding  ground  of  all  bits  of  wood,  string, 
and  rubbish,  cleaning  the  lantern  and  transforming  their 
beds  into  tight  and  wrinkleless  blanket  rolls. 

The  morning  swim  came  at  eleven  o'clock.  An  efficient 
camp  life-saving  corps,  patrolling  in  a  skiff  and  upon  the 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       47 

beach,  forestalled  any  possibility  of  accident.  Swimming 
lessons,  races  on  the  beach,  speed  and  endurance  tests  passed 
the  time,  and  a  general  protest  always  greeted  the  recall 
whistle.  Once  out  of  the  water  the  prospect  of  dinner  called, 
and  clothes  were  speedily  hustled  on  under  the  spur  of  a 
camp  appetite.  Following  dinner  came  the  siesta  time, 
when  the  boys  were  encouraged  to  write  letters  home,  and  to 
read.  The  Los  Angeles  Library  had  furnished  a  collection 
of  forty  books  —  volumes  of  biography,  nature  study,  and 
science,  as  well  as  stories  such  as  "Tom  Sawyer"  and 
"Treasure  Island." 

Baseball  games,  played  as  hotly  and  as  vociferously  as  by 
any  young  Americans,  track  meets,  and  hikes  made  up  the 
afternoon  program.  Their  ball  games  required  a  man  of  no 
little  courage  as  umpire.  And  they  carried  their  hikes 
through  with  that  grit  and  perseverance  which  we  sometimes 
like  to  think  we  monopolize  as  Anglo-Saxon.  Twenty  boys 
started  out  for  Black  Jack,  the  second  highest  peak  on  the 
island;  it  was  a  hike  which  shortened  the  breath  and  dried 
the  mouth  and  sapped  the  strength  of  the  hardiest.  Yet 
twenty  boys  started  and  twenty  boys  reached  the  summit. 
Not  one  proved  a  loafer  or  a  quitter. 

Thus  far  this  camp  was  very  much  like  any  other  camp. 
It  had  the  same  love  of  sport,  and  the  same  aversion  to  dish- 
washing. But  there  was  something  in  the  spirit  of  the 
leaders  of  this  camp,  and  in  their  purpose  and  method, 
that  made  it  different,  as  the  following  incident  will  show. 
The  boys  had  enjoyed  a  hearty  dinner,  climaxed  with  ice 
cream,  and  had  just  finished  their  letters  home.  It  was 
one  of  those  lazy  afternoons  that  all  camp  leaders  dread  — 
where  homesickness  develops  and  anarchy  is  bred.  Sud- 
denly came  the  announcement:  "Boys,  at  five  o'clock  we're 
going  to  have  a  program  in  which  each  tent  will  act  out 
a  Bible  story.    And  to  the  tent  producing  the  best  stunt 


48  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

will  go  as  a  prize  an  extra  feed  of  ice  cream."  The  effect 
of  the  last  words  was  magical.  Immediately  the  camp 
was  all  activity.  Yonder  on  the  beach,  a  group  of 
boys  was  embarking  in  the  skiff  to  collect  kelp  for 
costumes;  others  were  raising  an  altar  upon  the  sand, 
the  foundation  of  which  was  an  old  water  cask.  The  rub- 
bish heap  and  the  outdoor  kitchen  were  being  ransacked  for 
ancient  buckets,  wash-boiler  tops,  and  pasteboard  cartons 
from  which  to  fashion  armor.  Here  a  number  of  boys  were 
draping  themselves  Oriental  fashion  in  blankets  and  sheets, 
their  heads  decked  with  towels  for  turbans.  Gradually  the 
activity  concentrated,  and  at  various  points  around  the  camp 
could  be  seen  knots  of  boys  diligently  rehearsing  their  parts. 

The  hour  of  five  arrived.  The  sun,  still  high  in  the 
heavens,  provided  ample  lighting  facilities;  the  scenery  for 
each  act  was  chosen  with  care,  and  the  audience  accommo- 
datingly took  seats  wherever  the  natural  background  best 
provided  a  setting  for  the  act.  If  the  desert  was  desired,  it 
distributed  its  members  on  the  sand;  if  the  wilderness  or 
mountains,  it  followed  the  players  to  a  near-by  hill;  if  the 
seashore,  it  ranged  itself  along  the  surf-lined  rim  of  the 
ocean. 

Those  Bible  stories  were  nothing  if  not  vivid.  The  cos- 
tuming was  ingenious,  the  acting  spontaneous;  an  element 
of  humor  and  a  slight  touch  of  the  ludicrous  were  evident 
now  and  then.  But  the  spirit  of  the  presentation  was 
reverent.  The  choice  of  stories  ranged  from  Genesis  to  the 
Gospels.  Included  in  the  program  was  the  story  of  Cain's 
envy  and  murder  of  Abel  (the  modern  touch  being  supplied 
by  the  weapon  of  offense,  a  baseball  bat) ;  of  David's  con- 
quest over  the  giant  Goliath;  of  the  dance  of  the  daughter 
of  Herodias  before  Herod  for  her  gruesome  reward;  of  the 
journey  of  the  Good  Samaritan  and  his  mercy  toward  the 
beaten  (realistically  indeed  on  this  occasion)  traveler;  of 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       49 

Abraham's  excursion  to  Mount  Moriah  for  the  sacrifice  of 
his  son,  Isaac. 

With  true  boyish  vim  and  vigor,  each  one  of  these 
stories  was  produced.  But  the  ice-cream  prize  was  carried  off 
by  the  story  of  that  contest  on  Mount  Carmel  between  Elijah 
and  the  prophets  of  Baal.  An  altar  had  been  reared. 
Around  it  gathered  the  prophets  of  Baal,  clad  only  in  tur- 
ban and  breechcloth.  Bowed  upon  their  knees,  lifting  their 
arms  supplicatingly  to  heaven  they  cried,  "Baal,  responde- 
nos!  Baal  respondenos ! "  (Baal,  hear  us!  Baal,  hear  us!) 
But  their  prayers  were  in  vain ;  no  fire  from  heaven  appeared 
to  consume  their  sacrifice.  Elijah,  clad  in  the  white  gar- 
ments of  the  prophet,  stood  by  and  mockingly  commanded: 
"Cry  aloud,  for  he  is  a  god.  Perhaps  he  is  musing,  or  he 
is  on  a  journey ;  or  it  may  be  that  he  is  asleep  and  must  be 
awakened."  Frenzy  seized  upon  the  heathen  priests;  they 
leaped  around  the  altar;  knives  flashed  in  the  sunlight,  and 
from  their  edges,  coated  with  crimson  paint,  there  appeared 
staring  red  gashes  upon  the  arms  and  shoulders  and  breasts 
of  the  devotees.  But  at  last  voice  and  energy  failed.  No 
answer  had  come,  and  they  were  defeated. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  Elijah.  Quietly,  with  twelve  stones 
for  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  he  built  his  altar;  twelve 
containers  of  water  he  poured  over  it  (American  tin  cups 
taking  the  place  of  Oriental  jars).  Then  he  knelt  to  pray, 
when  suddenly  a  flash  as  of  lightning  blazed  upon  the  altar. 
And  as  the  smoke  of  the  flash  light  drifted  away,  the  children 
of  Israel  fell  upon  their  faces  exclaiming,  "The  Lord,  he  is 
God!  the  Lord,  he  is  God!" 

After  supper  came  camp  fire  and  a  glorious  "sing."  Tir- 
ing temporarily  of  this,  the  boys  called  for  the  "Bug,"  a 
swinging,  crashing  bit  of  barbaric  harmony  on  the  mandolin 
and  guitar.  Then  came  calls  for  Theda  Bara  (thus  had 
Filiberto  with  the  clear  tenor  voice  received  his  camp  nick- 


50  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

name).  "La  Paloma,"  he  sang  with  its  intoxicating  rhythm, 
or  the  dreamy  passionate  "La  Golandrina,"  or  others  of  the 
haunting,  lingering  Spanish  melodies.  Quiet  was  settling 
upon  the  boys;  the  fire  had  burned  into  a  bed  of  coals 
which  cast  but  a  dusky  glow  upon  the  circle  of  faces.  It 
was  a  time  when  every  listener  was  receptive  and  impressions 
for  a  lifetime  might  be  made.  Then  from  one  of  the  leaders 
there  came  a  short  talk  touching  on  the  struggles  which  every 
boy  and  young  man,  be  he  American  or  Mexican,  must  face. 
A  closing  song  and  the  evening  was  over. 

Thus  the  days  passed,  the  boys  breathing  in  at  the  same 
time  American  air  and  American  ideals,  adding  to  them- 
selves strength  of  body  and  mind  and  soul.  Twice  every 
day  at  reveille  and  at  retreat,  they  stood  at  attention  and 
saluted  the  American  flag.  Constantly  were  they  in  the 
company  of  the  young  Americans,  their  leaders.  And  in 
those  few  days  perhaps  more  of  the  real  meaning  of  the 
American  character  and  spirit  came  to  them  than  in  all  the 
previous  months  or  years  of  their  residence  within  our 
borders. 

Of  the  camp  boys,  two  will  serve  their  people  as  ministers, 
one  as  an  engineer,  two  as  physicians,  two  or  three  perhaps 
as  teachers.  But  what  of  the  remaining  twoscore  or  more 
boys?  The  years  alone  can  tell.  A  friendly  influence  en- 
tered their  lives  and  lives  are  sometimes  transformed  by 
friendship.  In  1877,  in  central  Mexico,  there  was  born  a 
lad  of  Indian  blood,  Doroteo  Arango,  whom  friendship  seems 
to  have  passed  by.  Instead  his  youth  was  embittered  by  the 
murder  of  an  official  who  had  outraged  his  sister.  He  be- 
came an  outlaw  and  took  the  name  of  Villa.  And  for  years 
he  has  been  a  menace  not  only  in  Mexico,  but  to  the  peace 
of  all  America  as  well.  In  1806,  there  was  born  in  southern 
Mexico,  another  lad  of  Indian  blood,  Benito  Juarez.  Left 
an  orphan  at  the  age  of  four,  he  found  a   friend   in  a 


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AMONG   SPANISH-SPEAKING   PEOPLES       51 

charitable  merchant,  who  fostered  and  educated  him.  And 
rich  dividends  did  the  merchant's  friendly  care  return.  For 
Juarez,  after  a  term  as  governor  of  his  native  state,  Oaxaca, 
left  it  the  most  prosperous  in  the  country.  He  led  his 
people  in  their  successful  struggle  against  the  French  and 
Maximilian.  Thrice  was  he  elected  President  of  the  Repub- 
lic. And  even  now,  almost  five  decades  after  his  death,  he 
still  lives  in  the  mind  of  the  Mexican  peon  as  "The  Great 
Liberator." 

"I  hope,"  said  Dr.  McLean,  "that  we  can  turn  these  lives 
from  the  path  of  Villa  to  the  path  of  Juarez." 

The  Plaza  Schools.  The  camp  on  Catalina  Island  last 
summer  was  our  latest  experiment  in  Mexican  work.  Several 
years  ago,  in  the  same  pioneering  spirit,  the  Presbyterian 
Church  established  as  an  experiment  a  small  day  school  for 
Mexican  children  in  a  remote  settlement  in  New  Mexico 
where  educational  opportunities  were  lacking.  As  late  as 
1872  there  was  but  one  public  school  in  New  Mexico.  The 
experiment  was  such  a  success  that  it  was  soon  extended  to 
other  isolated  communities  and  to-day  there  are  seven  of 
these  "plaza"  schools  in  that  state.  In  most  of  these  schools 
the  course  of  instruction  covers  five  to  eight  grades.  In 
some  cooking,  sewing,  and  manual  training  are  taught  in 
addition  to  the  regular  course;  in  all  the  Bible  is  studied. 
A  tuition  fee  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  cents  a  month 
in  charged  for  each  pupil,  and  a  load  of  wood  required  from 
each  family. 

Although  these  schools  are  small  and  all  together  do  not 
reach  more  than  four  hundred  boys  and  girls  in  a  year,  their 
influence  is  very  real,  not  only  on  the  boys  and  girls  them- 
selves but  on  the  community  in  which  they  are  located.  One 
community  last  year  rallied  to  help  in  the  building  of  a 
community  house  in  connection  with  the  day  school  —  fifty- 
two  days  of  volunteer  work  were  given,  300  loads  of  stone 


52  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

were  hauled  free  for  the  foundation  and  the  walls.  With 
such  a  contribution  the  people  of  the  community  feel  that 
it  is  their  house  and  whole  families  spend  evening  after 
evening  there.  Another  community  has  been  taught  to  play. 
A  wide-awake  missionary  seeing  the  real  need  of  recreation 
and  its  educational  value,  secured  apparatus  and  opened  a 
playground.  As  a  consequence  the  entire  town  is  interested 
—  and  plays.  After  four  o'clock  when  the  playground  is 
open  to  the  public,  men  of  all  ages  and  sizes  may  be  seen  on 
the  "slide  and  stride."  In  another  plaza  new  and  large 
windows  cut  in  heretofore  solid  adobe  walls  show  that  the 
talks  on  fresh  air  and  value  of  sunshine  have  been  heeded. 

More  encouraging  even  than  the  changes  in  the  com- 
munity, is  the  fact  that  the  boys  and  girls  are  being  led  to 
desire  and  seek  education  further.  Five  years  ago  not  a 
girl  in  the  school  at  Chimayo  had  finished  eighth-grade  work. 
This  year  the  mission  reported  twenty-one  of  its  pupils 
away  at  boarding  school.  Of  the  pupils  of  the  El  Rito 
School,  Chacon,  in  recent  years,  eleven  are  now  taking  ad- 
vanced educational  work  elsewhere,  two  are  in  the  ministry, 
four  are  teachers,  and  one  is  in  the  United  States  Navy. 

Young  people  graduating  from  these  plaza  schools, 
which  are  elementary,  are  encouraged  to  continue  their  work 
in  the  Menaul  School  (for  boys)  at  Albuquerque,  the 
Forsythe  Memorial  School  (for  girls)  at  Los  Angeles,  or  at 
the  Allison  James  School  at  Santa  Fe. 

Unfinished  Business :  Educational.  But  fine  as  these 
schools  are,  their  total  enrollment  is  a  few  hundred,  and  there 
are  literally  hundreds  of  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  who 
ought  to  have  the  same  opportunities.  Moreover  none  of 
these  schools  provides  more  than  high-school  training.  The 
net  result  of  this  is  that  none  trains  as  completely  as  it 
should  for  Christian  leadership.  In  all  of  our  work  in  the 
Southwest  we  have  not  a  single  worker  trained  by  any  of 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       53 

these  girls'  schools.  We  need  schools  to  begin  where  these 
leave  off  and  to  give  the  college  and  specialized  training 
that  will  prepare  native  leadership  for  Christian  work. 

Social  Work  Needed.  Until  recently  when  we  wanted 
to  bring  the  inspiration  of  a  living  Christianity  to  these 
people  it  has  been  our  custom  to  rent  a  hall,  employ  a 
minister,  hang  out  a  sign,  and  begin  preaching  the  gospel 
to  those  who  would  come.  Battering  down  the  walls  of 
superstition,  prejudice,  and  ignorance  was  slow  and  uphill 
work  by  this  method,  for  thousands  of  the  very  people 
who  most  needed  our  message  would  not  come  into  these 
halls,  most  of  which  were  dark  and  dingy  and  altogether  un- 
attractive. So  we  have  opened  up  "Homes  of  Neighborly 
Service."  We  rent  a  house  in  the  Mexican  quarter,  locate 
in  it  a  social  worker,  a  woman  of  broad  sympathy  and  quick 
understanding  of  the  needs  of  the  people.  The  social  worker 
begins  by  regenerating  her  own  house  and  making  a  model 
home  of  it.  Then  she  visits  the  Mexican  women  and  invites 
them  to  come  to  her  house  at  pre-arranged  hours  for  the 
study  of  the  English  language.  The  women  are  eager  to 
come.  The  very  environment  of  the  home  teaches  the  gos- 
pel of  home-making.  To  the  English  lessons  are  added  other 
courses  in  home-making,  marketing,  care  of  babies,  sanita- 
tion, personal  hygiene.  In  some  homes  clinics  are  held,  and 
day  nurseries,  and  various  forms  of  recreational  activities. 
These  homes  are  so  popular  that  we  must  have  more  of  them. 
They  are  actually  reaching  the  people  with  practical  Christ- 
ianity and  true  Americanism.  We  could  put  in  at  least  a 
hundred  such  homes  now  if  we  had  the  means. 

Religious  Work  Fundamental.  During  the  past  few 
years  the  heart  of  the  Church  has  been  touched  as  never 
before  by  her  social  responsibility,  and  this  awakening  has 
been  reflected  in  our  Mexican  work.  Formerly  we  simply 
rented  halls  or  erected  adobe  huts ;  and  if  we  had  a  bell  we 


54  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

rang  it,  and  invited  men  to  come  and  listen  to  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel.  They  did  not  come  —  that  is,  in  any  large 
numbers.  Then  we  built  schools  and  worked  with  the  young. 
We  erected  settlement  houses  and  interpreted  the  gospel 
of  Christ  through  the  touch  of  the  social  worker.  So  much 
have  we  been  interested  in  the  bodies  of  men  that  when 
we  established  a  dental  clinic  in  Los  Angeles  for  the  Mexi- 
cans the  daily  press  exclaimed  in  surprised  headlines: 
"Church  goes  into  the  business  of  pulling  teeth." 
/  But  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  ultimately  a 
ministry  to  the  bodies  of  men  is  secondary  to  the  ministry 
of  saving  their  souls.  There  is  no  piece  of  social  work  in 
the  Mexican  field  which  is  not  tied  up  to  either  a  Sunday 
school  or  a  church.  The  marvelous  stories  of  spiritual  re- 
generation which  have  refreshed  the  Church  coming  from 
Korea  and  Africa,  are  duplicated  on  a  smaller  scale  in  our 
Mexican  churches  at  El  Paso  and  in  Los  Angeles.  During 
the  calendar  year  1920  no  less  than  100  members  were  added 
to  the  El  Paso  church  upon  confession  of  faith.  Men  and 
women  listen  to  the  message  with  a  heart  hunger  which  is 
appealing.  During  the  fiscal  year  of  1919  and  1920,  the 
gross  advance  in  our  Mexican  churches  was  twenty-five  per 
cent, '  In  every  real  work  of  Americanization  among  the 
Mexican  people,  the  preaching  of  those  eternal  principles 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  American  life  is  of  the 
utmost  importance. 

The  missionary  enthusiasm  of  the  Mexican  people  makes 
possible  the  success  which  attends  the  preaching  of  our 
ministers.  A  converted  Mexican  goes  out  to  win  his  friends 
just  as  did  those  men  who  so  long  ago  first  came  to  know 
and  love  their  Lord.  During  the  past  year  an  Indian 
Mexican  in  California  who  was  as  bitter  as  Saul  of  Tarsus 
in  his  persecution  of  those  who  were  "of  the  Way,"  has  been 
won  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.    Like  Paul  before  his  con- 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES        55 

version,  so  he  has  been  like  Paul  since  his  conversion.  He 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  and  he  works  with  pick  and 
shovel  in  a  section  gang  of  Mexican  laborers.  Each  day  at 
the  noon  hour,  when  the  men  sit  down  among  the  imple- 
ments of  their  toil  to  eat  their  luncheons,  he  draws  a  Span- 
ish testament  from  his  pocket,  and  says  something  like 
this:  ^'I  have  here  a  little  book,  but  I  cannot  read.  Will 
some  one  do  me  the  favor  of  reading  to  me?" 

It  is  difficult  for  anyone  raised  in  a  Protestant  country  to 
realize  how  barren  these  lives  are  of  fellowship  with  a  liv- 
ing God.  Their  Christ  is  a  dead  Christ.  The  only  religion 
they  have  been  taugh't  is  a  religion  of  rite  and  ritual,  form 
and  ceremony.  The  end  of  all  our  work  must  be  to  make 
God  a  living  reality  in  their  lives  —  a  comrade  and  friend. 
All  the  Protestant  churches  together  thus  far  have  enrolled 
only  10,018  and  a  Sunday-school  membership  of  11,023 
among  the  more  than  one  and  three-quarter  million  Mexi- 
cans in  this  country.  We  must  find  ways  of  reaching 
the  rest.  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  them  can  neither 
read  nor  write.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  will 
go  back  to  Mexico.  Every  one  of  them  is  a  potential  friend 
of  America  or  a  potential  enemy.  We  must  make  them 
friends  and  there  is  no  better  way  than  to  make  them  true 
Christians.  Those  that  stay  here  we  must  assimilate  into 
our  American  life  and  we  would  not  be  true  to  the  ideals 
of  the  founders  of  this  country  nor  to  our  faith  as  Christians 
if  we  did  not  try  to  meet  them  as  brothers  and  share  with 
them  our  blessings  as  well  as  our  labor. 

What  You  Can  Do  to  Help.  Give  your  sympathy, 
your  interest,  your  money,  and  your  prayers,  and  remember 
always  to  think  of  Mexicans,  not  as  bandits  or  unworthy 
people,  but  as  fellow  human  beings,  children  of  the  same 
God.  They  have  not  had  your  opportunities,  but  they  have 
great  possibilities  and  they  need  your  friendship. 


56  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

A  remarkable  fraternization  service  between  a  Mexican 
congregation  and  an  American  congregation  was  held  in  the 
Emmanuel  Presbyterian  Church  of  Los  Angeles  some  months 
ago.  There  were  present  about  2  50  Mexicans  and  probably 
twice  that  number  of  Americans.  The  hymns  were  sung 
antiphonally,  the  Americans  singing  the  first  verse  in  Eng- 
lish, the  Mexicans  singing  the  second  verse  in  Spanish,  and 
so  on.  When  the  time  for  the  sermon  came  the  Mexican 
pastor  addressed  his  congregation  in  their  own  tongue  and 
this  was  the  burden  of  his  address:  'T  have  heard  you 
speak  of  this  city  saying  it  is  not  the  'city  of  angels'  but  a 
city  of  devils,  for  there  are  those  here  who  oppress  you  and 
scorn  you  and  treat  you  as  though  you  were  not  human.  In 
the  future  when  you  speak  of  Americans  do  not  think  of 
those  who  do  such  things,  but  rather  of  Christian  Americans 
like  these  who  have  invited  us  to  worship  with  them  in  this 
service."  Then  it  came  time  for  the  American  pastor  to 
address  his  own  congregation.  "When  you  think  of  Mexi- 
cans," he  said  *'do  not  think  of  a  few  who  rob  and  steal 
and  kill.  Unfortunately  there  are  a  few  Americans  who  do 
that  sort  of  thing,  too.  But  think  of  Christian  Mexicans  like 
these,  your  brothers." 

The  spirit  of  that  service  will  solve  the  Mexican  problem, 
and  until  we  have  that  spirit  the  problem  will  not  be  solved. 


AMONG   SPANISH-SPEAKING   PEOPLES       57 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  How  many  Mexicans  are  there  in  the  United  States? 

How  recently  have  they  arrived?     What  is  their 
attitude  toward  the  United  States? 

2.  Describe  the  camp   on  Catalina  Island.     Note  the 

number  present;  the  daily  schedule;  the  Bible  dram- 
atization contest  program.  What  is  the  value  of  the 
camp? 

3.  What  kinds  of  schools  are  particularly  needed  among 

the  Mexicans?  Why?  Describe  the  Plaza  Schools, 
their  purpose  and  curricula. 

4.  What  are  the  ''Homes  of  Neighborly  Service"? 

5.  What  needs  to  be  done  in  a  religious  way  for  the 

Mexicans? 

6.  Indicate    the    right    attitude    of    Americans    toward 

Mexicans, 


PORTO  RICANS 

THE    CHALLENGE 
Of  the  Field 

Porto  Rico  is  said  to  be  more  responsive  to  the 
message  of  the  gospel  than  any  other  country  in 
Latin  America.  But  until  the  American  intervention 
in  iSgg  the  type  of  religion  that  flourished  on  the 
island  was  inclined  to  be  one  of  rigid  formalism  with 
a  naive  separation  between  religion  and  morality  that 
did  not  tend  to  improve  the  quality  or  influence  of 
either. 

What  is  needed  is  a  dynamic  gospel  message  if  the 
people  of  Porto  Rico  are  to  become  Christians  in 
more  than  name. 

In  igi8  the  island  adopted  prohibition  by  a  vote  of 
nearly  2  to  i,  the  influence  of  Protestant  pastors  and 
workers  being  a  powerful  factor  in  securing  this  re- 
sult. 

Through  the  schools,  the  press,  and  other  influences, 
loyalty  to  America  is  rapidly  developing.  As  the 
average  of  intelligence  rises  the  demand  for  thor- 
oughly trained  ministers  and  leaders  increases.  More 
adequate  facilities  for  training  and  supporting  such 
must  be  provided. 

Most  of  the  Porto  Ricans  live  in  one-room  thatched 
huts  in  small  agricultural  villages  and  are  mostly  in 
a  state  of  poverty. 

The  £rst  census  taken  after  the  American  occupa- 
tion in  i8gg  showed  that  eighty-three  per  cent  of  the 
population  was  illiterate.  American  supervised  public 
schools  which  now  enroll  175,000  children  have  greatly 
improved  this  condition  for  the  younger  men  and  wo- 
men of  Porto  Rico  and  for  the  rising  generation. 

American    Volume  —  Interchurch   Survey. 


PORTO  RICANS 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Through  the  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions  a 
splendid  hospital  is  being  maintained  at  San  Juan.  It 
is  the  finest  hospital  on  the  island  and  is  constantly 
setting  new  standards  of  health  and  hygiene  as  well 
as  of  methods  of  treatment  of  disease  and  wounds. 
Seventeen  workers  are  commissioned  in  the  hospital 
and  thirty  nurses  enrolled  in  the  Nurses'  Training 
School  connected  with  it.  Last  year  the  hospital 
ministered  to  977  bed  patients  and  27,813  dispensary 
patients.  Nine  hundred  and  forty-one  operations  were 
performed. 

Community  stations  are  maintained  at  Mayaguez 
and  Aquadilla,  employing  all  told  eighteen  commis- 
sioned workers  and  enrolling  216  Sunday-school  pu- 
pils, and  at  Mayaguez  rendering  a  public-health  serv- 
ice to  1500  patients. 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  important 
evangelistic  work  is  being  conducted  through  30 
churches  engaging  33  ministers.  In  addition  to  this 
the  Board  is  cooperating  in  the  development  of  the 
Polytechnic  Institute,  the  leading  educational  institu- 
tion on  the  island  and  profoundly  influencing  the 
whole  social  life  of  the  Antilles. 

A  splendid  beginning  —  but  only  a  beginning.  The 
goal  —  an  educated  Christian  democracy  —  is  still  far 
distant. 


(b)  Porto  Ricans 

Porto  Rico,  open  to  Protestant  influence  only  since  the 
American  occupation  in  1898,  has  made  remarkable  progress 
in  every  phase  of  its  insular  life.  Porto  Rico  did  not  wait 
for  a  constitutional  amendment  for  prohibition,  but  voted 
for  it  two  years  before  the  United  States  went  dry.  It 
did  not  wait  for  Church  union  but  with  mutual  agreement 
made  an  apportionment  of  the  island  among  denominations 
and  closing  her  seminaries  united  them  in  one  interdenomina- 
tional school  where  the  young  men  are  trained  for  any  one 
of  half  a  dozen  different  Protestant  Churches. 

In  three  particulars  the  Presbyterian  Church  is  rendering 
service  to  the  million  and  a  quarter  of  its  inhabitants. 

I.  The  Hospital  at  San  Juan.  A  leading  Porto  Rican 
when  asked  what  was  America's  greatest  contribution  to  the 
island,  replied  without  hesitation,  "The  San  Juan  Hospital." 
It  is  the  finest  hospital  in  the  insular  province.  It  was 
erected  and  is  maintained  by  the  Woman's  Board.  Porto 
Rico  has  a  very  healthful  climate,  yet  its  people  are  ill  much 
of  the  time,  their  diseases  arising  from  lack  of  nutrition,  bad 
housing,  and  neglect  of  the  laws  of  sanitation.  There  are 
approximately  1,118,000  people  in  Porto  Rico,  yet  it  is  said 
that  probably  eighty  per  cent  are  victims  of  the  hookworm 
disease.  Ignorance  and  poverty  are  additional  factors  in 
increasing  the  death  rate  and  in  making  medical  work  a 
most  important  and  needed  form  of  missionary  activity. 
Moreover,  as  in  other  communities  where  a  hospital  is  an  in- 
novation, most  people  do  not  seek  its  care  until  their  ail- 
ments have  reached  a  dangerous  stage.  But  when  Porto 
Ricans  are  badly  off  and  need  the  best  of  medical  care  and 
treatment,  they  cast  longing  eyes  from  every  part  of  the 

60 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       6i 

island  toward  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  at  San  Juan  and  use 
any  and  every  means  of  getting  there  —  automobile,  horse- 
back, pushcart,  a  chair  carried  by  friends,  or  even  a  pair 
of  crutches.  They  come  to  the  hospital  in  just  such  ways 
as  they  came  to  Jesus,  determined  to  receive  help  even 
though  it  requires  letting  down  through  the  housetop. 

The  new  hospital  building,  completed  in  191 7,  has  had 
its  capacity  taxed  to  the  utmost.  Its  70  beds  have  been  kept 
filled  and  there  is  a  constant  and  long  waiting  list.  In  19 19, 
977  patients  were  treated  in  the  hospital  beds,  and  941  oper- 
ations were  performed.  Two  hundred  patients  throng  the 
dispensary  in  the  afternoon.  More  than  30,000  come  under 
the  care  of  the  nurses  and  physicians  in  a  single  year. 

Along  with  the  medical  care  goes  helpful  religious  influ- 
ence. There  is  Scripture  reading  and  prayer  in  the  wards 
and  in  the  clinic.  Every  Monday  morning  the  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Santurce  holds  a  service  which  is 
usually  well  attended.  On  Sunday  afternoon  there  is  a 
friendly  religious  talk  in  each  ward.  Many  of  the  patients 
take  gospels  or  tracts  to  their  homes. 

The  Nurses'  Training  School,  in  connection  with  the 
hospital,  ministers  to  one  of  the  great  needs  of  Porto  Rico. 
It  was  the  pioneer  school  of  its  kind  on  the  island  and  its 
graduates  may  be  found  in  some  of  the  most  responsible 
nursing  positions.  The  demand  for  these  graduates  has 
always  exceeded  the  supply.  There  are  now  in  training  in 
the  nurses'  school  thirty  Porto  Rican  girls.  The  supervising 
and  teaching  staff  are  all  graduates  of  the  school  and  many 
patients  who  have  been  in  the  hospitals  in  the  States  testify 
that  the  standards  of  discipline  and  efficiency  are  equal 
to  those  of  the  hospitals  in  the  States.  Since  the  demand  for 
nurses  exceeds  the  supply,  the  Woman's  Board  is  hoping  to 
enlarge  the  training  school.  It  is  also  planning  to  take  in 
a  number  of  young  women  to  train  not  only  for  hospital 


62  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

work  but  for  public-health  service,  district  nursing,  and 
other  missionary  work. 

Evidences  o£  Appreciation.  A  man  from  St.  Thomas 
Island  came  into  the  hospital  offices  one  day  and  in  speak- 
ing of  the  indifference  of  many  of  the  Porto  Rican  doctors 
said,  "If  the  doctors  of  this  island  would  take  a  lesson 
of  generosity,  charity,  and  Christianity  from  this  hospital, 
the  poor  Porto  Rican  people  would  not  be  trodden  upon 
and  die  by  the  hundreds  from  lack  of  proper  care." 

A  patient  said,  "I  knew  that  nurses  were  useful  but  I  did 
not  understand  their  real  value  until  I  came  to  this  hospital." 

A  doctor's  testimony  is,  "As  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Ex- 
aminers, I  can  certify  that  the  majority  of  nurses  who 
pass  the  examinations  yearly  come  from  the  Presbyterian 
Hospital." 

Spiritual  Manifestations.  The  religious  work  is  ap- 
preciated along  with  the  medical.  Our  missionary  writes: 
"I  must  not  fail  to  make  my  rounds  in  the  wards  every  day, 
to  read  the  Bible,  and  talk  to  the  patients,  for  when  I  went 
in  this  morning  after  an  absence  of  three  days,  with  one 
accord,  in  both  the  men's  and  women's  wards,  they  said:  'Oh, 
you  have  not  been  in  to  read  the  Bible  to  us  for  such  a 
long  time.    Please  come  every  day.'  " 

2.  The  Polytechnic  Institute.  Some  months  ago  the 
editor  of  the  New  York  Herald  was  in  Porto  Rico  and 
visited  the  Polytechnic  Institute.  When  he  returned  to  the 
States  he  wrote  the  following  editorial  in  his  paper: 

Perhaps  the  most  significant  fact  just  now  in  the  prog- 
ress of  Porto  Rico  is  the  swift  and  somewhat  astonishing 
development  of  a  great  institution  for  the  higher  education, 
both  academic  and  technical,  near  San  German,  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  Island.  In  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
hill-surrounded  sites  which  the  imagination  can  conceive  — 
a  tropical  version  of  Williamstown,  Massachusetts,  with  a 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       63 

climate  that  without  irreverence  may  be  described  as  heav- 
enly —  there  is  growing  with  tropical  rapidity  the  future 
University  of  the  Antilles,  the  school  at  present  known  as 
the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Porto  Rico.  Its  destiny  is  as 
obvious  as  its  history  is  amazing.  It  promises  to  be  for 
the  long  future  the  source  of  culture  and  the  central  seat 
of  the  liberal  arts  not  only  for  Porto  Rico  but  for  other 
Antillean  Islands  and  for  a  considerable  part  of  Latin 
Central  and  South  America. 

It  happens  that  it  was  just  one  year  ago  to-day  that 
the  Legislature  of  Porto  Rico  conferred  upon  the  existing 
school  at  San  German  the  full  university  functions.  Under 
the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  the  school  had  been 
opened  seven  years  before  with  a  single  student  on  its  rolls. 
Under  the  direction  of  Rev.  J.  W.  Harris,  a  Texan  of 
large  vision,  indomitable  energy,  and  a  very  remarkable 
practical  faculty  for  realizing  ideals,  it  has  already  become 
a  university  in  the  true  sense,  occupying  a  campus  of  120 
acres  with  an  adequate  scheme  of  future  physical  develop- 
ment already  matured  by  the  architects  to  whose  aesthetic 
perceptions  New  York  owes  the  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Monu- 
ment on  Riverside  Drive ;  and  it  is  affording  through  compe- 
tent professional  teachers  a  thorough  education,  both  aca- 
demic and  technical,  to  nearly  300  students  of  both  sexes. 
The  promise  of  the  institution  and  the  quick  recognition  of 
its  importance  to  the  future  of  the  Caribbean  people  is 
shown,  perhaps  better  than  in  any  other  way,  by  the  cir- 
cumstance that  nearly  four  times  as  many  students  as  are 
admitted  are  turned  away  from  San  German  because  of 
present  lack  of  housing  facilities. 

The  plan  of  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Porto  Rico,  that 
is  to  say,  the  University  of  the  Antilles  of  the  future,  con- 
templates buildings  which  accommodate  1200  boarding  stu- 
dents and  their  teachers,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000,000,  and  an 
endowment  of  $6,000,000  for  the  same.  Among  all  the 
college  and  university  drives  now  on,  and  their  name  is 
legion  and  their  respective  claims  are  indisputable,  none  is 
urged  more  worthily  than  this  from  down  amid  the  royal 
palms.  Certainly  none  appeals  more  directly  to  sympathetic 
imagination  alive  to  the  possibilities  of  Latin  American  de- 
velooment,  and  concerned,  for  reasons  either  of  philanthropy 


64  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

or  of  American  patriotism,  or,  again,  of  enlightened  selfish- 
ness, that  Porto  Rico  shall  have  every  opportunity  which 
northern  good  will  and  generous  northern  pockets  can  afford. 


The  daily  program  of  the  Institute  will  reveal  the  general 
character  of  the  work  done. 

ONE  day's  life  in  THE  POLYTECHNIC  INSTITUTE  OF 
PORTO  RICO 

5.30  A.M.     First  Bell  —  All  students  get  up. 

5.45  A.M.     Second  Bell. 

5.55  A.M.    Third  Bell  —  All  aboard  for  dining  hall. 

6.00-6.30  A.M.  Breakfast.  Girls  cook  and  serve  all  meals 
in  a  main  dining  room. 

6.30-7.00  A.M.  Morning  prayers.  At  this  service  daily 
readings  are  assigned  so  as  to  complete 
the  entire  Bible  during  the  year. 

7.15  A.M.  The  lower  grades  of  grammar  and  high-school 
classes  report  for  work.  The  boys  do  all 
the  farm,  house,  and  road  building  work 
and  the  girls  take  care  of  their  own 
house,  wash,  and  iron  for  the  whole 
school,  and  cook  and  serve  all  the  meals. 

8.00  A.M.  The  more  advanced  classes  of  grammar  and 
high  school  begin  classroom  work. 

12.00  Noon.     Dinner  is  served. 

1. 00  P.M.  Students  who  were  in  the  classroom  during  the 
morning  report  for  work  while  those  who 
worked  their  three  hours  during  morning 
come  to  class  work. 

4.00  P.M.  Students  are  free  until  supper  time.  They  spend 
these  two  hours  in  play  or  study,  as  they 
choose. 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       65 

6.00  P.M.     Supper  time. 

6.30  P.M.     Recreation  in  walking  and  talking. 

7.00  P.M.  Study,  in  preparation  for  next  day's  classes,  be- 
gins. Those  whose  daily  average  is  85 
per  cent  or  more  are  allowed  to  study 
in  their  rooms.  All  others  have  to  come 
to  study  halls  where  they  study  under 
the  direction  of  teachers. 

9.15  P.M.     First  Bell  for  retiring. 

9.25  P.M.     Second  Bell  for  retiring. 

9.30  P.M.  Third  Bell.  All  lights  out  and  students  are  in 
bed  and  quiet. 

The  Polytechnic  Institute  is  doing  three  worth-while 
things  for  the  Porto  Rican  people. 

(a)  It  is  teaching  the  dignity  of  labor.  Born  in  the  Porto 
Rican  from  Spanish  traditions  is  the  idea  that  labor  is  a 
misfortune  meant  only  for  those  of  whom  it  is  required  by 
necessity.  The  Polytechnic  Institute  has  met  this  stubborn 
prejudice  by  requiring  that  its  students  devote  three  hours 
a  day  to  the  manual  labor  which  must  needs  be  done  in 
the  institution  and  about  the  grounds,  the  boys  employed 
in  the  construction  of  Institute  buildings  (all  the  buildings 
being  done  by  student  labor),  caring  for  the  garden  produce 
and  "finca"  or  farm  work,  the  girls  using  their  required 
hours  of  work  in  cooking,  sewing,  caring  for  the  laundry, 
and  so  on. 

About  sixty  per  cent  cannot  pay  tuition,  and  only  about 
twenty-five  per  cent  meet  all  their  own  expenses  through 
supporting  parents,  but  all  must  work,  rich  and  poor  alike, 
no  allowance  being  made  for  the  labor,  it  being  considered 
as  part  of  their  training  —  the  surprising  feature  of  which 
is  that  the  students  offer  no  objection  whatever,  whether 
they  break  stone,  carry  mortar,  plant  sugar  cane,  or  wash 


66  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

dishes.  "The  head,  the  heart,  the  hand"  —  are  all  well 
educated  at  San  German,  and  that  the  last  is  not  least  in 
consideration  has  brought  the  Institute  under  the  most 
enthusiastic  approval   of  all  educators  in  Porto   Rico. 

(b)  It  is  helping  to  solve  the  question  of  sex.  In  Porto 
Rico  the  minds  of  men  are  erotic,  so  the  sexes  are  usually 
separated.  Some  churches  recognizing  this  situation  seat 
their  men  on  one  side  and  their  women  on  the  other  side  of 
their  auditoriums. 

The  Polytechnic  Institute,  following  the  policy  of  all  our 
Porto  Rican  missions,  recognizes  the  need  of  meeting  this 
problem  with  straightforward  Christian  teaching,  expecting 
its  pupils  to  be  Christians  in  thought  and  deed,  ignoring 
the  unnatural  limitations  of  the  past,  and  they  have  not  had 
the  slightest  trouble.  It  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
only  dormitory  school  on  a  coeducational  basis  in  Latin 
America. 

(c)  It  is  helping  to  meet  the  need  of  education.  In  no 
school  in  the  island  is  there  a  better  course  of  study  —  a 
truth  verified  by  the  fact  that  for  three  years  consecutively 
the  graduates  of  San  German  in  taking  teachers'  examina- 
tions received  marks  superior  to  those  of  any  high  school  on 
the  island.  A  college  course  will  be  started  when  the  neces- 
sary recitation  halls  have  been  erected.  Already  students 
having  heard  of  San  German  have  come  from  points  as  far 
distant  as  Santo  Domingo  and  Colombia,  and  with  the 
equipment  which  is  being  gradually  supplied,  this  institu- 
tion bids  fair  to  do  a  great  work  not  only  for  Porto  Rico  but 
for  the  whole  of  the  West  Indies. 

3.  Churches  and  Mission  Houses.  Again  the  Presby- 
terian Church  is  rendering  a  service  to  Porto  Rico  through 
its  churches  and  neighborhood  houses,  such  as  those  at 
Aguadilla  and  Mayaguez.  Through  the  churches  the  gospel 
is  brought  to  the  people,  and  through  the  neighborhood 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES       67 

houses  the  workers  showing  the  people  by  precept  and  ex- 
ample how  to  live,  add  to  their  usefulness  by  teaching  lace- 
making,  embroidery,  basket-weaving,  and  drawn  work,  arts 
in  which  Porto  Ricans  are  especially  adept.  Let  us  take  for 
example  the  Marina  Missions  at  Mayaguez. 

The  Community  Work  at  Mayaguez.  Picture  the 
scene:  a  densely  populated  triangular  two  acres  of  one-story 
houses  along  the  coast,  broiling  under  a  tropical  sun.  Living 
conditions  among  the  two  hundred  and  fifty  people  that 
crowd  this  triangle  are  about  as  bad  as  they  can  be.  Often 
several  families  live  in  a  house  that  is  really  too  small  for 
one  family.  There  are  no  conveniences  of  civilized  life  and 
practically  no  sanitation.  Such  is  the  setting  of  the  Marina 
Mission  in  Mayaguez. 

The  mission  conducts  a  church  under  the  care  of  a 
Porto  Rican  pastor  and  near  the  church  the  Marina  Neigh- 
borhood House.  The  Neighborhood  House  shelters  an  in- 
dustrial school,  a  kindergarten,  and  a  day  nursery  and  is 
the  headquarters  for  a  visiting  nurse.  The  industrial  school 
has  organized  the  Porto  Rican  girls  of  the  neighborhood 
under  the  direction  of  a  capable  instructor  who  teaches  them 
to  make  drawn  work  and  embroidery.  The  beauty  of  this 
handwork  is  said  to  be  unsurpassed.  The  girls  are  paid  and 
the  product  is  sold  throughout  the  United  States.  Each 
morning  the  industrial  school  begins  with  a  Bible  lesson. 
Other  lessons  are  introduced  as  the  work  permits.  The 
kindergarten  and  primary  work  are  very  much  like  that  in 
any  American  settlement  house  with  the  exception  that  the 
week-day  work  of  the  Neighborhood  House  is  more  closely 
allied  with  the  Church  than  that  of  the  usual  settlement 
house. 

The  day  nursery  of  this  mission  would  of  itself  justify 
the  whole  undertaking.  The  community  is  desperately  poor 
and  every  woman  who  can  must  "work  out"  day  after  day 


68  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

leaving  her  children  at  home.  Since  the  establishment  of 
the  day  nursery  the  children  are  left  at  the  Neighborhood 
House  and  are  cared  for  by  two  faithful  Porto  Rican  women 
until  the  mothers  return  at  night. 

The  visiting  nurse  cares  for  the  cases  that  come  to  the 
mission  and  then  goes  out  to  the  community,  visiting  the 
sick,  relieving  pain,  and  bringing  cheer  wherever  she  goes. 
The  needs  that  challenge  her  and  the  difficulties  that  must 
be  overcome  are  illustrated  in  this  tj^ical  instance.  Not 
long  ago  she  answered  a  call  to  attend  a  sick  child.  She 
found  the  child  and  its  mother  in  a  little  eight  by  ten  room 
surrounded  by  twelve  other  persons  who  had  come  in 
mistaken  kindness  or  in  thoughtless  curiosity  and  were  tak- 
ing the  air  which  the  child  so  much  needed.  The  child  was 
gasping  for  breath. 

Unfinished  Tasks.  Thus  the  Church  is  one  of  the 
great  factors  in  the  making  over  of  an  old  civilization  into 
a  modern  Christian  land.  These  are  results  which  have 
been  accomplished;  what  remains  then  to  be  done?  Well, 
what  is  it  that  seems  never  done  in  a  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
try?/What  is  it  that  is  so  hard  to  get  deep  down  in  the 
subconscious  parts  of  a  Romanist's  life?  Those  who  have 
labored  among  them  instantly  reply:  A  true  understanding 
of  the  real  nature  of  Christianity.  The  temperance  question 
you  can  solve,  political  questions  you  can  settle,  but  here  is 
a  problem  ever  before  the  Church  —  to  show  a  people  priest- 
ridden  for  over  four  centuries,  what  Christianity  is. 

It  is  this  which  makes  our  work  in  Porto  Rico  a  work  of 
patience;  but  we  have  no  cause  to  complain,  the  work  has 
been  just  started,  and  we  mean  to  speak  to  these  people  and 
keep  speaking  to  them  in  the  only  language  that  they  can 
understand,  the  language  of  human  conduct,  the  language  of 
unselfish  deeds,  the  language  of  broad,  wholesome  institu- 
tions which  lift  the  multitudes  until  they  realize  that  Chris- 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES        69 

tianity  is  not  a  system  of  rites,  but  a  kind  of  life  to  be 
lived  here  and  now  —  a  life  that  seeks  to  reproduce  the 
spirit  and  the  purpose  and  the  method  of  Jesus. 

Finish  the  Polytechnic  Institute.  So  it  becomes  clear 
to  us  that  in  line  with  revealing  to  Porto  Rico  what  the 
nature  of  Christianity  is,  the  school  at  San  German  which 
when  completed  will  be  a  center  of  much  needed  illumination 
in  Porto  Rico  must  be  pushed  steadily  forward.  Six  dormi- 
tories for  boys,  six  for  girls;  five  recitation  halls,  a  library, 
administration  buildings,  a  domestic  science  hall,  a  manual- 
training  shop,  a  teachers'  home  —  how  like  music  it  all  falls 
upon  Porto  Rican  ears!  — people  who  have  had  only  the 
crudest  and  most  elementary  schools,  now  given  modern 
equipment;  scores  who  were  once  unsuccessful  applicants, 
now  enrolled  in  the  student  body  soon  to  be  happy  in  their 
pursuit  of  knowledge. 

And  with  a  hospital  containing  175  beds  and  a  force  of 
trained  nurses,  not  only  will  the  Polytechnic  Institute  be  an 
educational  power  but  a  medical  center,  a  hospital  for  the 
entire  western  end  of  the  island.  No  greater  blessing  could 
possibly  be  bestowed  upon  that  beautiful  isle.  Let  us  finish 
the  task. 

An  Independent  Church  in  Porto  Rico.  One  other 
and  no  less  important  task  remains,  that  of  making  the 
Church  independent.  The  Porto  Ricans  are  planning  a 
general  increase  in  their  contributions  to  gain  financial  inde- 
pendence in  ten  years.  If  they  succeed  they  may  be  the 
first  missionary  population  to  do  it,  and  again  this  small 
island  will  be  a  trail  maker.  The  more  difficult  work  is  that 
of  producing  a  native  ministry  that  is  so  thoroughly  evangeU- 
cal  as  to  be  trusted  with  independence. 

Porto  Ricans  can  preach;  by  their  oratorical  gifts  they 
can  keep  the  attention  of  a  crowd  when  the  American  with 
no  such  pyrotechnics  will  utterly  lose  out,  but  it  is  so  diffi- 


70  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

cult  for  those  who  have  known  only  the  priesthood  to  under- 
stand what  is  required  of  a  consecrated  Christian  minister: 
Unconsciously,  in  becoming  pastors  they  feel  after  priestly 
authority,  love  the  place  of  significance,  are  somewhat 
materialistic,  and  can  rarely  stand  the  test  of  discipleship 
which  demands  a  willingness  to  suffer,  to  be  humble,  self- 
forgetful  in  pastoral  as  well  as  pulpit  service.  Do  not  blame 
them;  these  are  the  heritage  of  Romanism,  but  with  in- 
creased earnestness  turn  your  support  toward  the  faculty  of 
the  Evangelical  Seminary,  and  pray  God  that  in  the  training 
of  these  promising  young  men,  the  older  men  may  so  reveal 
God  that  like  Paul  they  may  ever  retain  the  vision  and, 
with  that  fine  enthusiasm  of  which  the  Porto  Rican  is  so 
capable,  preach  the  living  God  to  the  multitudes. 


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AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES        71 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  What  is  the  population  of  Porto  Rico?     How  long 

has  it  belonged  to  the  United  States?  What  in- 
dependent sign  of  progressive  spirit  has  it  already 
displayed? 

2.  Describe  the  Hospital  at  San  Juan  as  to  size,  medical 

and  religious  service.  What  is  the  value  of  its 
Nurses'  Training  School? 

3.  When  was  the  Polytechnic  Institute  at  San  German 

established?  What  is  its  present  enrollment?  Its 
equipment?  Sketch  its  daily  program.  Indicate  its 
threefold  importance. 

4.  What  religious  work  is  being  done  in  Porto  Rico?    Why 

is  it  difficult  to  show  Porto  Ricans  what  Christianity 
really  is? 

5.  Describe  the  community  work  at  Mayaguez.     Why 
should  the  Church  conduct  such  work? 

6.  What  is  being  done  to  develop  a  reliable  native  mifi- 

istry?    Why  is  this  a  difficult  task? 

7.  What  is  the  first  thing  to  be  done  along  educational 

lines  in  the  immediate  future? 


CUBANS 

THE    CHALLENGE 
0£  the  Field 

The  population  of  Cuba  is  approximately  2^00,000. 
Of  these  seventy  per  cent  are  white,  thirteen  per  cent 
Negroes,  sixteen  per  cent  mixed,  and  the  rest  are  yel- 
low.   Cuba  is  the  richest  of  the  West  Indies. 

Millions  of  dollars  of  American  capital  are  invested 
in  Cuban  sugar  plantations.  How  much  will  the 
Christians  of  America  invest  in  uplifting  the  lives  of 
the  Cuban  people? 

Gambling  and  impurity  are  Cuba's  national  vices. 
Her  people  are  naturally  temperate  as  to  the  use  of 
intoxicants,  but  American  brewers  have  undertaken 
to  overcome  this  by  the  introduction  of  beer  "kinder- 
gartens." 

Cuba  has  school  facilities  for  only  half  of  her 
600,000  children.  In  the  cities  49.9  per  cent  of  the 
children  attend  school;  in  the  country  districts  31.6 
per  cent. 

American    Volume  —  Inter  church   Survey. 


CUBANS 

THE  ANSWER 
0£  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Through  the  Woman's  Board  of.  Home  Missions 
nine  day  schools  are  conducted  teaching  the  underly- 
ing principles  of  Christian  democracy.  These  schools 
are  at  Guines,  Nueva  Paz,  Sancti  Spiritus,  Caibarien, 
Camajuani,  Placetas,  Cabaiguan,  Vedado,  and  Cardenas. 
The  total  enrollment  at  these  nine  schools  last  year 
was  1337.  Fifty -two  commissioned  workers  were  en- 
gaged to  teach  and  care  for  them.  In  the  Sunday 
schools  connected  with  these  day  schools  627  scholars 
were  enrolled. 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  thirty-three 
missionary  centers  (only  eleven  church  buildings) 
are  being  maintained  to  make  ignorance  give  place  to 
enlightenment,  fear  to  faith,  and  a  dead  Christ  to  a 
living  One. 

Until  these  schools  and  churches  are  properly 
equipped  and  manned  our  progress  in  the  cities  of 
Cuba  will  be  slow.  And  as  for  the  great  rural  dis- 
tricts, they  are  still  untouched. 


(c)  Cubans 

After  twenty  years  of  work  in  Cuba  the  Presbyterian 
Church  faces  a  new  epoch.  The  Disciples  of  Christ  and  the 
Southern  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  have  with- 
drawn and  requested  us  to  continue  and  enlarge  their  work. 
This  important  territory  having  the  three  greatest  provinces, 
Havana,  Santa  Clara,  and  Matanzas,  is  now  dependent 
upon  us.  Within  this  territory  is  found  Cuba's  greatest 
population,  wealth,  and  commerce.  There  are  33  mission 
centers,  served  by  26  workers.  Our  churches  enroll  1980 
members  and  our  Sunday  schools  2784  pupils.  These  mis- 
sions contributed  $8343  toward  their  own  support  last  year. 
Of  the  33  missions,  only  11  have  buildings. 

Educational  Work.  The  Woman's  Board  maintains 
9  mission  schools  in  Cuba  with  a  total  enrollment  of  1557 
boys  and  girls.  Fifty-five  teachers  are  devoting  themselves 
to  the  spiritual,  physical,  and  mental  care  of  these  young 
Cubans.  In  one  succinct  sentence  Mrs.  F.  S.  Bennett  has 
described  the  purpose  of  the  educational  work  in  Cuba, 
"The  mission  school  is  in  Cuba  not  to  make  Americans,  but 
to  make  Christian  Cubans."  No  one  can  doubt  this  who 
visits  one  of  these  schools.  Select  any  school  at  random. 
Very  likely  it  will  be  taught  by  a  young  Cuban  woman  who 
has  herself  graduated  from  the  mission  school.  In  the  class- 
room work  as  well  as  in  the  assembly  you  will  hear  a 
strong  national  note  struck.  You  will  see  the  Cuban  chil- 
dren lined  up  in  a  hollow  square  saluting  the  Cuban  flag. 
You  will  hear  them  sing  the  Cuban  national  anthem.  These 
Cuban  schools  are  schools  of  democracy.  Some  of  the 
pupils  are  from  poor  homes,  others  are  children  of  bank 

74 


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AMONG   SPANISH-SPEAKING   PEOPLES       75 

presidents,  mayors,  physicians,  and  well-to-do  business  men. 
The  children  pay  tuition.  They  buy  their  own  books,  so 
that  the  schools  are  partially  self-supporting.  In  some  cases 
all  expenses,  except  the  salaries  of  the  teachers,  are  met  from 
the  tuition  fund.  It  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of  these  mis- 
sion schools  that  an  institution  of  higher  learning  should  now 
be  demanded.  To  meet  this  demand  a  school  recently 
turned  over  to  us  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  South  is 
being  developed  into  a  Normal  school  at  Cardenas,  where 
more  than  500  young  people  are  now  in  training.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  another  well-equipped  training  school  is  being 
planned  and  will  be  located  at  Sancti  Spiritus. 

Religious  Work,  in  Cuba  is  under  the  inspiring  leader- 
ship of  Rev.  E.  A.  Odell.  Take  two  examples  of  this  work. 
Here  is  the  town  of  Cabaiguan,  of  4000  people.  The  pastor 
is  a  Cuban.  In  addition  to  his  church  he  has  a  school  of 
168  children  with  6  teachers.  The  school  is  almost  self- 
supporting.  The  church  is  small  but  there  is  a  Sunday 
school  of  85.  The  influence  of  the  pastor  is  strong  in  the 
community  and  from  his  school  and  church  he  is  sending 
many  groups  of  young  people  to  the  National  Institutes 
and  to  the  University  of  Havana. 

Twenty-five  miles  from  Cabaiguan  is  Sancti  Spiritus,  a 
romantic  old  city  dating  back  to  the  year  15 14.  The  popu- 
lation is  about  17,000.  The  Presbyterian  Church  here  is  a 
beautiful  building  (the  only  church  building  which  the 
Board  of  Home  Missions  has  erected  in  Cuba  in  ten  years) 
but  it  is  not  so  much  the  beauty  of  the  building  that  appeals 
as  the  beauty  of  the  results  the  church  is  accomplishing. 
It  is  rendering  a  service  not  only  to  its  own  community  but 
to  the  Protestant  cause  throughout  Cuba.  For  the  last 
three  years  an  institute  patterned  after  the  one  at  North- 
field,  Massachusetts,  has  been  held  in  the  Sancti  Spiritus 
church  each  summer.    Workers  from  various  parts  of  the 


/ 


76  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

island  gather  for  ten  days  to  talk  over  their  problems  and 
seek  new  visions  to  renew  their  courage. 

Perhaps  the  most  concrete  illustration  of  the  sort  of  last- 
ing work  the  church  of  Sancti  Spiritus  is  doing  in  its  com- 
munity lies  in  the  story  of  a  photograph  before  the  author. 
It  is  a  photograph  taken  twelve  years  ago  of  a  boys'  Sunday- 
school  class  of  this  church.  They  are  bright,  upstanding 
boys.  They  finished  their  training  at  Sancti  Spiritus  and 
each  went  his  own  way  according  to  his  talent  and  inclina- 
tion. Boy  No.  I  is  continuing  his  studies  in  the  United 
States.  Boy  No.  2  is  now  private  secretary  to  the  mayor 
of  the  city  of  Sancti  Spiritus.  Boy  No.  3  has  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Havana  and  is  now  a  practicing 
physician  in  his  home  town.  Boy  No.  4  took  three  years 
advanced  schooling  at  Mount  Hermon,  Massachusetts,  and 
returned  to  become  manager  of  a  bank  in  Cuba.  Boy  No.  5 
is  in  charge  of  a  large  sugar  plantation.  Boy  No.  6  after 
three  years  further  schooling  in  the  United  States  is  now 
an  accountant  in  the  New  York  City  National  Bank  at 
Sancti  Spiritus.  Boy  No.  7  is  continuing  his  studies  in  Mount 
Hermon.  Boy  No.  8  graduated  from  an  American  college 
and  is  now  taking  a  medical  course  in  Miami  University, 
preparing  to  be  a  medical  missionary.  And  remember  that 
this  was  but  one  class  of  eight  boys  in  the  mission  school  and 
Sunday  school  at  Sancti  Spiritus.  More  than  200  such 
boys  are  enrolled  the  year  round. 

Unfinished  Tasks  in  Cuba.  The  demand  for  the  edu- 
cational and  religious  help  which  the  Presbyterian  Church 
has  extended  to  Cuba  is  beyond  the  capacity  of  our  present 
equipment  and  personnel  to  supply.  The  schools  are  re- 
quired to  turn  away  students  seeking  admission.  Sometimes 
parents  are  so  insistent  that  their  children  be  admitted  that 
they  will  not  be  satisfied  until  the  principal  has  actually 
taken  them  through  the  school  and  shown  them  that  every 


AMONG    SPANISH-SPEAKING    PEOPLES        77 

available  desk  and  place  for  a  desk  is  occupied.  One  of  the 
teachers  in  one  of  the  schools  was  asked  about  the  location 
of  a  proposed  new  building.  He  replied,  "Put  it  where  you 
wish,  the  children  will  follow  you,  for  there  is  no  other  school 
in  the  town  that  can  compete  with  you." 

Rev.  R.  L.  Wharton,  the  General  Superintendent  of  the 
AVoman's  Board  work  in  Cuba,  reports: 

In  at  least  three  cases  groups  of  citizens  have  come  to  us 
offering  very  substantial  help  financially  provided  we  would 
give  them  a  school.  In  one  instance  the  citizens  themselves 
undertook  to  establish  a  school  but  after  a  few  months 
confessed  their  failure  and  made  the  significant  statement 
that  the  only  people  who  could  establish  and  maintain  the 
school  they  needed  were  the  Presbyterians.  Such  facts  as 
these  show  that  there  is  a  place  for  us  and  that  our  work 
is  needed.  The  public-school  system  theoretically  is  good 
but  in  practice  the  teachers  themselves  confess  that  it  is 
not  by  any  means  supplying  the  needs  of  the  children. 
Actually  there  are  eight  hundred  classrooms  on  the  island 
closed  for  the  lack  of  teachers  and  that  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  salaries  paid  are  phenomenal  in  comparison  with 
the  requirements  made  upon  the  teachers.  Within  the  past 
two  years  a  new  standard  has  been  established  by  the 
public-school  authorities  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  improve 
greatly  conditions  in  the  system  within  a  brief  period  of 
years.  According  to  the  new  plan  normal  schools  have  al- 
ready been  established  in  four  of  the  six  provinces  and  only 
normal  graduates  will  be  employed  in  the  schools.  If  this 
is  adhered  to  and  effective  preparation  is  given  in  these 
normal  schools  certainly  it  should  mean  a  long  step  forward 
for  the  youth  of  Cuba  eventually. 

One  of  our  own  great  outstanding  needs  is  trained 
teachers  and  we  are  earnestly  hoping  that  before  another 
year  we  may  have  a  department  in  operation  in  some  of 
our  schools  with  at  least  a  degree  of  normal  work.  Teach- 
ers! Teachers!  more  teachers,  consecrated  teachers,  is  the 
cry  that  comes  up  from  every  side,  men  and  women  who 
love  children,  and  who  know  how  to  impart  knowledge  and 


78  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

mold  character.  Many  scores  of  opportunities  have  been 
lost  in  Cuba  by  a  failure  to  go  forward  when  God  opened 
the  door.  Right  now  we  must  decide  whether  we  are  going 
to  do  the  same  thing  educationally  or  not.  The  doors  in 
this  sense  are  wide  open. 

In  Cuba  as  in  Porto  Rico  our  greatest  task  is  to  give  to  the 
people  a  true  understanding  of  the  real  nature  of  Chris- 
tianity, to  bring  them  into  close  fellowship  with  God,  to  free 
their  whole  life  from  fear  and  to  make  it  conform  to  Jesus' 
law  of  love  and  service.  To  fulfill  this  task  adequately  we 
must  provide  our  present  stations  with  suitable  equipment, 
remembering  that  two  thirds  of  them  are  still  without  build- 
ings. We  must  train  a  native  ministry  and  to  this  end  must 
develop  the  training  school  and  the  college.  We  must  pro- 
vide helpful  literature.  When  we  have  done  these  things 
we  will  have  opened  the  way  in  Cuba  for  a  free  church  and 
a  free  school  and  the  blessings  of  Christian  liberty.  We  will 
have  helped  the  Cubans  vdn  their  spiritual  battle  against 
ignorance,  superstition,  and  fear. 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  What  is  the  public-school  situation  in  Cuba? 

2.  Describe  a  Cuban  mission  school. 

3.  How  evident  is  the  need  of  new  schools? 

4.  Illustrate  the  religious  work  already  established  in 

Cuba. 

5.  What  is  the  task  remaining? 


CHAPTER  III 
IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES 


INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNITIES 

THE    CHALLENGE 
Of  the  Field 

The  composition  oi  the  American  city  is  the  result 
of  the  three  processes  by  which  it  has  secured  its  peo- 
ple: rural  emigration,  alien  immigration,  and  the  in- 
crease due  to  births.  Each  of  these  processes  has 
created  a  corresponding  group  in  the  American  city: 
the  rural  emigrant  is  the  result  of  the  i£rst;  the  for- 
eigner of  the  second,  and  the  indigenous  city  folk  of 
the  third. 

The  thing  which  differentiates  these  three  groups 
most  is  the  fact  that  in  childhood  the  persons  that  be- 
long to  them  grew  up  in  entirely  different  environ- 
ments. They  think  in  fundamentally  different  terms, 
and  their  usual  reactions  toward  situations  and  facts 
are  the  result  of  these  traditional  viewpoints. 

In  the  work  of  the  city  the  rural  emigrant,  the  alien, 
and  the  city-born  all  find  a  common  interest.  Drawn 
together  in  industry  they  constitute  the  industrial 
group.  This  group  is  the  Church's  most  difficult  prob- 
lem. The  fact  that  the  Protestant  churches  are  the 
product  of  the  earlier  rural  period  .of  American  life 
accounts  largely  for  the  inactivity  and  silence  of  the 
churches  during  great  industrial  struggles.  Large 
sections  of  working  groups  have  become  alienated 
from  the  Church.  They  will  continue  to  be  alienated 
from  it  until  it  intelligently  interprets  the  economic 
evolution  taking  place  in  this  country  and  fearlessly 
stands  for  social  justice  and  economic  fair  play. 

A  study  of  one  thousand  workingmen  of  all  kinds 
revealed  the  fact  that  the  Church  is  much  less  attrac- 
tive to  them  than  is  any  other  "social"  institution. 

These  workingmen  are  not  particularly  hostile  to 
the  Church;  they  are  simply  indifferent. 

American  Volume  —  Inter  church  Survey. 


INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNITIES 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

The  Board  of  Home  Missions  is  endeavoring  to 
meet  this  challenge  in  a  variety  of  places,  tongues,  and 
ways.  It  is  cooperating  with  sixteen  greater  city 
presbyteries  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  in 
many  forms  of  pioneering  church  and  community 
work.  Last  year  loi  ministers,  twenty  lay  workers, 
and  forty-nine  women  visitors  and  community  workers 
ministered  in  seventeen  languages,  to  fifty  national- 
ities, through  mission  stations,  neighborhood  houses, 
community  centers,  and  foreign-language   churches. 

The  eighteen  self-sustaining  synods,  and  ten  self- 
sustaining  presbyteries,  which  together  embrace  the 
great  industrial  regions  of  the  country,  each  carries  on 
their  work  in  addition  to  the  above.  This  work  is 
treated  briefly  in  the  following  pages. 

Under  the  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School 
Work,  40  colporteurs  are  engaged  in  as  many  different 
communities,  getting  the  Bible  into  the  hands  and 
hearts  of  foreign-speaking  people  in  this  country. 
These  colporteurs  sold  last  year  6150  Bibles  in  other 
languages,  and  visited  44,820  families. 

Worthy  as  all  this  work  is,  it  only  touches  the 
fringes  of  the  task.  The  bulk  of  the  business  is  not 
only  un&nished  —  it  is  barely  begun. 


Chapter  III 

IN   INDUSTRIAL   COMMUNITIES 

C.  The  Task  as  a  Whole.  Our  task  is  to  save  men's 
spirits.  Save  them  from  what  and  for  what?  It  is  to  save 
them  from  selfishness,  from  materialism,  from  low  ideals, 
from  burning  up  in  the  fires  of  passion  and  greed,  of  hatred 
and  self-indulgence.  It  is  to  save  them  for  usefulness,  for 
service,  and  for  the  development  of  all  the  divine  possi- 
bilities God  has  given  them.  The  Christian  way  to  do 
this  —  that  is,  the  way  of  Christ  —  is  to  get  men,  through 
him,  so  connected  with  God  that  their  spirits  and  his  are 
one. 

It  is  difficult  enough  to  accomplish  this  with  men  who 
live  in  the  country,  close  to  nature.  It  is  a  vastly  different 
problem  in  industrial  communities  amid  the  roar  of  machin- 
ery, crowded  tenements,  and  the  incessant  struggle  of  com- 
petitive commerce.  ,  Unnatural  living  conditions,  vicious  en- 
vironment, unjust  working  conditions,  lack  of  educational 
facilities,  and  preachers  of  hatred  often  combine  to  wreak 
havoc  with  men's  spirits  even  though  their  bodies  may  be 
able  to  stand  the  strain.  ! 

Take  for  example  an  immigrant  from  Italy  or  Poland  or 
Hungary.  He  comes  to  this  country  not  knowing  our 
language,  our  customs,  our  methods  of  government,  or  any 
of  the  thousand  and  one  things  that  we  Americans  have 
known  from  our  youth.  He  comes  from  a  country  where 
education  was  limited  to  the  few,  where  the  government  was 
not  democratic,  and  where  the  church  was  Catholic  and 

82 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  83 

often  corrupt.  Arriving  in  a  strange  country  he  first  runs 
the  gauntlet  of  the  petty  thieves  who  have  found  the  immi- 
grant ''easy  picking."  Some  of  these  petty  thieves  run 
lodging  houses  where  the  immigrant  is  charged  exorbitant 
prices,  some  call  themselves  "immigrant  bankers,"  some  are 
so-called  "guides,"  some  are  lawyers  who  claim  to  be  able 
to  render  services  that  they  cannot  perform  or  charge  out- 
rageously for  the  services  they  do  render,  some  are  quack 
doctors,  and  some  are  just  plain  crooks  who  under  pretense 
that  they  can  correct  some  alleged  error  in  the  immigrant's 
papers  and  thus  prevent  his  being  deported,  get  their  foul 
hands  upon  the  newcomer's  small  capital.  Finally  when  this 
gauntlet  has  been  run  the  immigrant  finds  himself  in  an  in- 
dustrial center.  He  secures  a  job  in  a  steel  mill  or  a  woolen 
mill  or  a  slaughterhouse.  All  day  he  works  amid  the  din  of 
machinery.  When  his  work  is  done  he  goes  to  his  home 
in  the  "colony"  which  is  usually  crowded  with  other  immi- 
grants like  himself.  He  has  little  or  no  contact  with  Chris- 
tian Americans  and  his  ideas  are  naturally  molded  largely 
by  what  he  hears  from  other  immigrants. 

There  are  15,000,000  foreign-born  in  this  country.  Three 
fourths  of  them  live  in  the  cities,  and  the  great  majority 
work  in  large  industrial  plants.  As  this  is  being  written 
about  3000  more  immigrants  are  coming  into  America  every 
day.  What  chance  has  the  Church  of  getting  these  men  con- 
nected with  God  if  it  simply  hires  a  hall  and  employs  a 
preacher  to  conduct  the  same  sort  of  services  used  in  a 
country  church  among  American  farmers?  No  chance 
at  all. 

The  Situation  in  One  Typical  Industrial  Center.  — 
Greater  New  York.  For  instance,  take  the  Metropolitan 
Area  of  Greater  New  York.  Rev.  Kenneth  Miller,  di- 
rector of  our  coordinated  Presbyterian  efforts  in  New  York, 
sums  up  the  situation  for  us:  He  says: 


84  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

The  home  mission  task  in  the  Metropolitan  Area  involves 
the  Christianization  of  a  city  of  nine  million  souls.  So  vast 
are  the  problems  involved,  so  stupendous  the  difficulties 
encountered,  that  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  the  metropolis 
of  the  New  World  as  a  Christian  city,  transformed  into  the 
city  of  the  living  God.  And  yet  such  is  our  goal,  such  our 
faith,  and  such  our  purpose,  and  of  the  responsibility  for 
its  accomplishment  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  a  large 
share,  and  yet  only  dimly  realized  and  feebly  borne. 

The  great  outstanding  problem  of  the  Metropolitan  Area 
is  the  problem  of  Christianizing  the  foreigner,  for  he  makes 
up  four  fifths  of  its  population.  The  most  baffling  and  per- 
plexing, and  at  the  same  time  the  most  urgent  task,  that  lies 
before  us,  is  concerned  with  the  Jews  of  Greater  New  York, 
—  nearly  two  million  souls.  "But  they  are  Jews,"  some  one 
says,  "they  have  their  own  religion.  What  have  we  to  do 
with  them?"  But  the  fact  of  the  matter  is  they  have  not 
their  own  religion.  The  percentage  of  apostasy  among  the 
Jews  of  New  York  is  said  to  be  far  in  excess  of  that  pre- 
vailing in  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  churches.  Some  esti- 
mate that  fully  ninety  per  cent  of  the  Jews  of  New  York 
have  cut  absolutely  with  the  synagogue.  The  most  casual 
observer  must  see  that  it  is  with  the  Jew  that  New  York's 
materialism,  pleasure  madness,  money-loving,  is  most  ram- 
pant. The  ghetto  is  manufacturing  unbelievers  and  radi- 
cals so  fast  that  the  synagogue,  church,  and  constructive 
American  institutions  are  simply  swamped.  The  Jewish 
youth  is  growing  up  and  assuming  a  more  and  more  influen- 
tial position  in  the  commercial  and  even  intellectual  life 
of  the  city,  and  is  growing  up  with  few  or  no  ideals  of 
any  sort,  not  to  mention  Christian  ideals.  On  the  simple 
ground  of  humanity,  because  the  future  of  our  city  and 
country  is  at  stake,  we  must  accomplish  the  spiritualization, 
the  Christianization  of  the  Jew.  It  is  not  a  question  of 
proselyting;  it  is  a  question  of  bringing  within  reach  of  the 
transforming  influences  of  religion  a  large  mass  of  people 
that  are  now  entirely  alienated  therefrom.  The  Presby- 
terian Church,  like  all  Protestant  churches  in  America,  has 
approached  this  task  timidly,  half-heartedly,  and  thus  far, 
unsuccessfully.  The  first  task  is  to  break  down  Jewish 
prejudice  against  Christianity  and  Christians.     Simultane- 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  85 

ously  with  that  there  must  be  approached  the  task  of 
building  up  positive  ideals  and  standards,  in  accordance 
with  the  teachings  of  the  Jewish  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The 
Board  of  Home  Missions  is  conducting  two  significant  ex- 
periments of  work  for  Jews,  one  in  East  New  York  (Browns- 
ville) and  one  in  Newark,  at  the  Bethany  Community 
Center.  Both  projects  are  handicapped  most  seriously  by 
lack  of  proper  equipment,  and  for  several  years  now  the 
workers  have  been  living  for  the  time  when  they  would  be 
housed  in  an  adequate  fashion.  We  cannot  hope  to  de- 
termine just  how  we  should  discharge  our  duty  to  the  Jew 
unless  we  give  a  fair  trial  to  the  various  methods  of  ap- 
proach, and  convince  our  Jewish  brethren  of  our  sincerity, 
and  ourselves  that  we  can,  as  Christians,  accomplish  much 
for  the  spiritualization  of  the  Jewish  element  of  our  popula- 
tion. 

The  work  among  the  other  foreign  nationalities  in  Greater 
New  York  is  equally  incommensurate  with  the  magnitude 
of  the  task.  The  American  Parish,  on  the  upper  East  Side 
of  Manhattan,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  Howard  V. 
Yergin,  is  about  as  efficient  and  thoroughgoing  a  piece  of 
home  missionary  work  as  we  have  in  this  country.  And  yet 
Mr.  Yergin  himself  admits  that  the  influence  of  these  four 
churches  and  two  neighborhood  houses  upon  the  great 
Italian  community  in  which  they  are  situated  is  scarcely 
noticeable.  The  fact  is.  New  York  could  well  have  a  church 
and  parish  house  on  every  city  block.  The  small  share  that 
the  Presbyterian  Church  has  in  the  Christianization  of  this 
community  is  well  taken  care  of.  But  the  point  is,  it  is 
pitiably  small  as  compared  with  the  task.  If  we  could  re- 
produce the  American  parish  one  hundred  times,  we  should 
be  making  a  contribution  somewhat  worthy  of  the  standing 
and  resources  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

So  with  the  Czecho- Slovaks.  In  New  York  fully  seventy- 
five  per  cent  of  the  forty  thousand  Czecho- Slovaks  have 
broken  absolutely  with  Catholicism,  and  have  become  "free- 
thinkers." Here  is  a  parish  of  30,000.  And  yet  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  through  the  combined  efforts  of  mission 
churches,  and  the  missionary  endeavors  of  wealthy  churches, 
has  been  able  to  muster  together  some  three  thousand  only. 
Here  the  Protestant  Church  is  ten  per  cent  efficient  at  best. 


86  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

In  the  Metropolitan  Area  is  included  such  cities  as  New- 
ark, Jersey  City,  Paterson,  Passaic,  Elizabeth,  and  Yonkers, 
any  one  of  which  presents  a  home  mission  task  of  great 
proportions,  and  in  none  of  which,  excepting  Newark,  has 
there  been  any  realization  of  the  responsibility  of  the  Church 
for  the  Christianization  of  its  own  city.  Newark  presents 
the  largest  problem,  and  here  a  beginning  has  been  made 
by  the  establishment  of  Friendly  Centers  and  Neighborhood 
Houses.  But  in  none  of  the  other  cities  has  the  Church  at 
large  faced  its  responsibility  and  tried  to  meet  it. 

Let  Robert  W.  Anthony,  chief  of  our  missionary  forces 
in  Brooklyn  and  Queens,  speak  for  those  Boroughs. 

Brooklyn  Borough  has  doubled  its  population  in  the  last 
twenty  years  and  now  boasts  almost  2,500,000  people.  Half 
a  century  ago  it  was  known  as  "The  City  of  Churches"; 
to-day  it  is  "The  City  of  the  Unchurched  Masses."  Brook- 
lyn with  fewer  people  thari  Manhattan  leads  in  registered 
voters  and  school  children.  '/»  the  face  of  this  tidal  wave  of 
population  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  remained  stationary 
in  membership  and  shows  a  heavy  loss  in  Sunday-school 
enrollment. 

Why  has  this  happened?  Immigrants,  speaking  more 
than  forty  different  languages,  have  poured  into  Brooklyn 
until  600,000  Jews  and  more  than  200,000  Italians,  to  say 
nothing  of  other  large  racial  groups,  live  in  the  Borough. 
The  older  Protestant  constituency  with  its  culture  and 
wealth  is  rapidly  moving  out  of  Brooklyn.  The  majority  of  * 
the  church  buildings  are  antiquated,  well  suited  to  the 
needs  of  fifty  years  ago,  but  not  equipped  for  modern  com- 
munity service.  The  usual  staff  is  a  solitary,  underpaid 
minister,  with  no  assistant  of  any  kind. 

With  a  static  membership,  ill-adapted  buildings,  and 
rapidly  changing  conditions  in  every  parish,  the  Presbyterian 
churches  of  Brooklyn  are  not  meeting  the  needs  of  to-day. 
The  prospects  for  ministering  to  the  added  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands who  are  coming  to  Brooklyn  as  a  result  of  the  open- 
ing of  new  rapid  transit  lines,  are  dark,  unless  heavy  rein- 
forcements come  soon. 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  87 

Queens  Borough  with  466,459  people  exceeds  Manhattan, 
Bronx,  and  Richmond  in  area,  and  is  destined  to  have  a 
larger  population  than  Brooklyn.  With  its  unrivaled  land 
and  water  transportation  it  is  the  coming  industrial  center 
of  the  East.  Its  period  of  maximum  expansion  is  just  be- 
ginning. Our  churches  are  badly  located,  weak  in  numbers 
and  for  the  most  part  miserable  in  equipment.  Far  less  than 
half  of  the  children  in  Queens  can  be  found  enrolled  in  any 
Sunday  school.  Communities  with  thousands  of  inhabi- 
tants have  no  modern  church  buildings  of  any  Protestant 
denomination. 

With  its  sister  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  Queens  will  control 
the  political  destinies  of  Greater  New  York  for  years  to 
come.  The  two  boroughs,  because  of  the  present  situation 
and  future  prospects,  constitute  one  of  the  most  important 
mission  fields  in  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

The  old  village  t5^e  of  church  and  ministry  cannot 
Christianize  the  unchurched  migrants  from  the  city.  Our 
present  force  and  equipment  are  overwhelmed  by  the  task. 

Why  Should  Christians  Concern  Themselves  with 
Industrial  Problems?  The  answer  to  that  question  is: 
We  simply  cannot  help  it.  In  the  first  place,  industrial 
problems  are  crowding  in  on  every  side  in  our  daily  life. 
Whether  we  earn  our  living  by  producing  or  manufacturing 
or  distributing,  we  are  constantly  face  to  face  with  ques- 
tions of  human  relationship,  with  competition  with  our  fel- 
lows, hours,  conditions  and  wages  of  labor,  dangers  to  life 
and  limb,  and  a  thousand  and  one  similar  matters,  every  one 
of  which  is  going  to  be  answered  one  way  or  another  in 
accordance  with  certain  principles  that  underlie  our  thought 
and  action. 

In  the  second  place,  Christianity  is  not  simply  a  set  of 
sweet  thoughts  about  heaven  or  even  an  insurance  policy 
against  hell  fire  in  the  life  to  come.  It  is  a  kind  of  life  —  a 
kind  of  life  that  seeks  to  reproduce  the  purpose  and  the 
spirit  and  the  principles  of  Jesus  Christ.     Among  those 


88  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

principles  there  is  none  more  revolutionary  than  his 
reverence  for  human  personality  which  grew  out  of  his  faith 
in  a  divine  Father  dwelling  in  the  human  soul.  The  Chris- 
tian who  accepts  this  principle  for  his  own  life  answers 
accordingly  the  industrial  questions  that  crowd  upon  him. 
To  the  Christian,  industrial  questions  are  not  isolated  things 
to  be  settled  by  arithemtic  or  even  by  economics,  primarily. 
They  are  human  questions,  involving  the  souls  of  men,  and 
must  be  settled  always  in  that  way  which  will  be  best  for 
the  spirits  of  the  men  concerned,/^ 

Evangelism  and  Social  Service.     In  general,  the  vari- 
ous attempts  to  make  our  industrial  relationships  conform 
to  Christian  principles  may  be  grouped  into  one  or  the 
other  of  two  classes:  evangelism  and  social  service.    Evan-  \ 
gelism  seeks  to  change  environment  through  the  individual  \ 
by  getting  that  individual  in  connection  with  God.    Social  ] 
service  seeks  to  change  the  individual  by  bettering  his  en-  i 
vironment.     Both  evangelism  and  social  service  aim  ulti-  i 
mately  at  the  same  goal  —  a  Christian  individual   in  aj 
Christian  community.    Both  ways  are  essential  to  reach  the 
goal.     Jesus  calling  his  disciples  one  by  one  —  that  was 
evangelism.    Jesus  healing  the  sick,  feeding  the  multitudes, 
and  cleansing  the  Temple  of  the  money  changers  —  that  was 
social  service. 

Not  only  are  evangelism  and  social  service  aiming  at  the 
same  goal;  neither  will  reach  that  goal  without  the  help  of 
the  other.  Evangelism  that  is  content  to  save  individual 
souls  simply  for  their  own  sakes  and  without  relation  to 
their  conduct  and  their  fellow  workers,  is  simply  pious  self- 
ishness. Social  service  that  assumes  that  economic  condi- 
tions are  the  controlling  factors  of  human  life  and  that 
increase  of  prosperity  will  solve  human  problems,  is  plain 
foolishness.  "Christianity  is  under  no  such  illusion.  It 
knows  that  no  change  in  the  external  machinery  of  the  pro- 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  89 

duction  and  distribution  of  wealth  is  sufficient  to  save 
society.  It  realizes  that  wealth  itself  is  only  a  tool,  capable 
of  serving  either  worthy  or  ignoble  ends,  and  that  all  turns 
upon  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  used."  ^ 

Pioneering.  Because  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  rec- 
ognized that  the  spirits  of  men  in  industrial  centers  need 
both  an  evangelistic  and  a  social  service  ministry  altogether 
different  from  the  traditional,  it  has  pioneered  in  finding 
new  methods  and  in  developing  new  programs.  The  Board 
of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School  Work  and  the  Home 
Board  are  each  trying  its  own  experiment,  and  in  addi- 
tion they  have  jointly  been  instrumental  in  establishing  more 
than  300  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools,  enrolling  a  total  of 
more  than  20,000  boys  and  girls  in  a  program  of  Bible 
stories  and  memory  verses,  songs  and  games,  handwork  and 
play,  all  under  Christian  leadership. 

In  twelve  of  the  leading  industrial  centers  of  America  the 
local  Presbyterian  churches  and  the  various  national  agen- 
cies concerned,  have  organized  Boards  of  church  extension 
or  similar  bodies  to  work  out  the  common  task  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  those  centers  —  to  save  the  spirits  of 
men.  The  work  of  these  organizations  is  so  new  and  so 
little  known  by  the  Church  at  large,  and  yet  so  important 
to  this  nation  and  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  that  it  is  worth 
setting  down  here  a  few  of  their  enterprises. 

In  New  York  there  are  11  Presbyterian  centers  among 
Czecho- Slovaks,  Italians,  Magyars,  and  other  immigrants. 
Five  congregations  and  2  Neighborhood  Houses  in  the  poly- 
glot upper  East  Side  population,  are  federated  in  the  Ameri- 
can Parish.  This  parish  maintains  a  large  summer  camp  in 
New  Jersey.  In  the  heart  of  the  Bohemian  section  in  New 
York  stand  the  John  Hus  Church  and  Neighborhood  House, 

^  The  Church  and  Industrial  Reconstruction.     Committee  on  the 
War  and  the  Religious  Outlook.    Association  Press. 


90  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

constructed  in  Bohemian  architecture  and  pioneering  in 
methods  of  Christian  Americanization  among  these  people. 
On  the  lower  East  Side,  in  the  heart  of  the  Jewish  section, 
is  the  Labor  Temple  with  a  great  social  program  of  educa- 
tion and  service  trying  to  interpret  what  is  best  in  America 
to  a  race  of  people  who  have  seen  only  what  is  worst  in  this 
country  —  our  slums  and  our  sweatshops. 

In  Brooklyn  foreign-language  work  is  being  conducted 
among  Syrians,  Poles,  Lithuanians,  French,  Italians,  Rus- 
sians, Jews,  and  Czecho- Slovaks.  Classes  and  clubs  are  be- 
ing conducted  in  many  centers  throughout  the  year  and 
fifteen  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools  are  held  in  Presby- 
terian churches  during  the  summer. 

Philadelphia  has  developed  the  largest  Italian  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  country,  a  very  interesting  community 
work  among  the  Jews  (Mizpah),  and  an  aggressive  com- 
munity program  at  Barnes  Memorial.  Fifty-two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-three  children  were  enrolled  in  the 
Presbyterian  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools  in  Philadelphia 
last  summer.  A  Wayside  Rescue  Mission  is  also  main- 
tained. 

Three  important  social  centers  are  being  maintained  in 
Buffalo,  and  a  new  Neighborhood  House  is  being  erected 
to  accommodate  the  enlarged  work  of  the  Immigrant  Aid 
Bureau  and  Kindergarten  at  Lackawanna. 

In  Pittsburgh  ten  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools,  a  mission- 
ary training  school,  a  rescue  mission,  a  publication  office, 
an  aggressive  work  among  foreign-speaking  peoples,  and 
three  Negro  missions,  are  all  being  maintained  by  the  pres- 
bytery. 

In  Baltimore  twenty  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools,  eight 
continuation  schools,  three  foreign  language  centers  among 
Italians,  Bohemians,  and  Poles,  one  Negro  center,  one  com- 
munity church,  and  a  large  Jewish  work,  are  the  tangible 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  91 

contributions   of   the   Presbyterian   churches    through    the 
Church  Extension  Board  of  the  Presbytery. 

Cleveland  has  eleven  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools,  four 
Italian  and  one  Magyar  Presbyterian  social  centers,  and  the 
Harkness  Fresh  Air  camp  which  provides  outings  for  more 
than  500  children  during  the  summer.  Three  special  centers 
are  being  developed  at  Woodland,  North,  and  Firestone 
Park.  Each  of  these  centers  has  a  staff  of  workers  and  a 
made-to-order  program  to  fit  the  needs  of  the  industrial 
population  which  it  serves. 

In  Detroit  the  presbytery  conducts  foreign  language  and 
social  work  among  Italians,  Armenians,  Magyars,  and  Poles. 
It  also  conducts  two  neighborhood  centers  and  one  Negro 
center  and  church.  The  children  of  its  10  Daily  Vacation 
Bible  Schools  represent  fourteen  different  nationalities. 

The  Presbytery  of  Chicago  reaches  in  their  own  language, 
Italians,  Poles,  Czecho-Slovaks,  Assyrians,  Hollanders, 
Hungarians,  Chinese,  and  twelve  Spanish-speaking  nation- 
alities. Through  the  English  language  it  reaches  thirty-four 
nationalities  in  such  activities  as  English  and  civics  clubs 
and  classes  and  the  multiplied  functions  of  a  community 
center.  Neighborhood  house  and  community  center  pro- 
grams are  being  maintained  at  19  points.  Three  Negro 
centers  are  conducted  and  at  three  places  there  are  special 
efforts  made  to  solve  the  Jewish  problem. 

On  the  Pacific  Coast  the  most  outstanding  Presbyterian 
cooperative  effort  is  that  conducted  by  the  San  Francisco 
Presbytery,  which  maintains  forty  Dail}^  Vacation  Bible 
Schools,  a  summer  camp,  Young  People's  Conferences,  a  co- 
operative system  of  evangelism,  a  church-building  fellowship 
of  four  hundred  members  contributing  every  time  a  home 
mission  church  is  built,  and  a  practical  and  successful  plan 
of  religious  education  and  recruiting  for  the  ministry.  The 
record  of  this  presbytery  last  year  showed  a  net  growth  of 


92  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

nine  per  cent  in  Church  membership,  twenty- four  per  cent 
in  Sunday-school  enrollment,  and  sixty-eight  per  cent  in 
benevolences. 

The  Unfinished  Task.  The  author  asked  the  head  of 
Presbyterian  Church  Extension  activities  in  eSch  of  these 
industrial  centers  to  write  a  statement  on  the  unfinished 
task  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  his  particular  center  — 
a  statement  that  could  be  passed  on  to  you  in  this  book. 
Each  man  kindly  wrote  his  statement.  They  all  wrote  with- 
out consulting  each  other,  yet  the  statements  are  as  alike 
as  peas  in  a  pod.  The  following  statement  by  Dr.  Charles 
L.  Zorbaugh  is  as  true  for  San  Francisco,  Chicago,  New 
York,  and  all  the  rest  as  it  is  for  Cleveland  for  which  it  was 
written: 

The  task  is  not  likely  to  be  finished  as  far  ahead  as  any- 
one can  see.  Eighty  per  cent  of  our  population  is  either 
foreign  born  or  only  one  generation  removed.  You  might 
better  say  that  our  task  is  just  started.  The  most  obvious 
thing  to  be  said  about  the  bulk  of  our  work  is  it  is  very 
new,  just  fairly  begun.  Our  church  extension  organization, 
our  foreign  work,  our  summer  schools,  our  fresh-air  camp, 
our  community  demonstration,  our  neighborhood  work  are 
all  new,  all  within  a  decade,  with  much  of  the  experimental 
and  nothing  at  all  of  finality  about  them.  We  actually  feel 
that  we  are  at  the  beginning  of  things.  We  are  forever 
trying  to  keep  up  with  the  growth  of  the  city.  Our  foreign 
work  is  painfully  experimental.  We  have  only  four  stations 
among  the  Italians  and  one  among  the  Hungarians.  I 
believe  in  this  work.  I  don't  see  how  any  man  can  do  other- 
wise. We  are  poor  Christians  if  we  try  to  dodge  it.  Yet  it 
is  full  of  uncertainty  and  disappointments  and  meager  visi- 
ble results.  It  constitutes  a  great  unfinished  task  for  us.  It 
is  only  nine  or  ten  years  ago  that  we  first  began  to  think  of 
our  duty  to  these  new  Americans. 

Let  us  turn  from  the  organizations  to  the  missionaries 
themselves  and  their  work  upon  their  fields.  Let  us  take  a 
few  examples. 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  93 

Making  a  Beginning  —  Greeting  the  Immigrant  at 
Ellis  Island.  Lately  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  es- 
tablished a  welfare  worker  on  Ellis  Island  to  see  that  as 
many  immigrants  as  possible  are  greeted  by  Christian 
friendship  and  protected  from  the  army  of  petty  grafters 
who  prey  upon  the  ignorance  and  bewilderment  of  the  new- 
comers. This  welfare  worker  renders  most  of  her  service 
to  those  immigrants  who  have  been  sent  to  the  temporary 
detention  rooms  because  they  have  not  sufficient  funds  to 
proceed  to  their  destination,  or  because  expected  relatives 
have  not  called  for  them,  or  because  they  lack  the  proper 
affidavits.  Some  have  incomplete  addresses  or  none  at  all. 
Others  have  come  with  the  intention  of  marrying  at  once  and 
need  to  be  chaperoned  to  City  Hall.  Still  others  want  em- 
ployment, or  must  wait  till  some  relative  is  removed  from 
the  hospital.  The  welfare  worker  endeavors  to  complete  the 
insufficient  address,  to  help  secure  employment,  and  to  put 
the  immigrant  in  touch  with  the  relative  confined  in  the 
hospital.  Some  of  the  more  serious  cases,  such  as  those  of 
children  under  sixteen  who  have  come  to  this  country  un- 
accompanied, or  of  women  who  have  lost  their  passports 
during  the  voyage,  require  weeks  of  difficult  follow-up  work, 
but  the  worker  has  her  reward  when  the  problem  is  at  last 
solved  and  the  immigrant  sent  on  his  way  rejoicing. 

The  Colporteurs.  The  colporteurs,  or  Bible  men,  are 
taking  the  gospel  to  the  people  of  many  tongues  in  the 
language  of  their  native  lands,  not  only  at  the  port  of  entry 
but  in  the  many  places  of  their  final  settlement  throughout 
our  country. 

A  writer  in  one  of  our  missionary  magazines  says: 

Colporteurs  belong  to  the  constructive  architectural  corps  | 
of  Kingdom  builders  who  are  digging  the  trenches  in  which 
others  lay  foundations  on  which,  in  due  time,  are  to  be 
built  temples  of  God. 


94  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

The  colporteur  is  not  simply  a  book  hawker,  not  merely  a 
commercial  agent.  If  he  were,  it  would  not  be  dishonorable. 
But  he  goes  as  a  pioneer  evangelist,  a  scout  of  the  great 
militant  Church  of  Christ.  He  cooperates  with  the  mis- 
sionary. He  goes  to  a  town  and  visits  every  house.  He 
finds  those  who  are  interested  and  gives  a  list  of  names  to 
the  nearest  pastors.  Sometimes  he  calls  the  people  together 
and  preaches  to  them,  so  that  when  the  pastor  comes  he  finds 
the  church  waiting  for  him  to  organize.  He  must  work  alone 
a  great  deal  of  the  time;  he  must  travel  the  dusty  roads  in 
the  broiling  sun;  he  must  climb  the  mountains;  he  must 
bear  the  burden  and  the  heat  of  the  day. 

Experiences.  There  is  no  bar  anywhere  to  the  work 
of  the  colporteur.  He  goes  to  every  hamlet  and  every 
house,  even  to  the  farthest  corner  of  the  little  alley,  his 
aim  being  to  leave  the  printed  page  containing  the  wonderful 
story,  in  every  home.  His  work  cannot  be  measured  by 
figures  nor  by  the  number  of  visits. 

One  of  our  oldest  colporteurs  went  to  a  lonely  home  in 
an  Ohio  mining  town,  where  only  the  wife  of  the  miner  was 
at  home,  and  being  offered  the  Bible,  she  said  that  she  could 
not  read;  and  that  it  was  no  use  to  buy  the  book  for  her 
husband,  as  he  spent  his  whole  time  with  his  comrades  in 
the  saloon  gambling  and  drinking.  However,  the  colporteur 
left  the  Bible  in  the  home  on  trial.  Within  two  months  he 
again  visited  this  family.  He  was  seen  and  recognized 
by  the  woman  while  he  was  yet  far  from  the  house.  She 
went  to  meet  him  and  began  to  tell  him  the  story  of  a  great 
change  in  the  life  of  her  husband:  "He  noticed  the  book  the 
first  day  he  came  from  work,"  she  said.  "He  began  to  read 
it  and  was  so  interested  in  it  that  he  forgot  to  meet  his 
comrades  in  the  saloon.  He  did  the  same  thing  the  next 
day,  and  has  continued  every  day  since.  He  does  not  go 
to  the  saloon,  does  not  gamble,  does  not  drink,  and  is  an 
entirely  changed  man.     Now  I  want  to  pay  you  for  this 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  95 

book.  It  is  a  great  treasure  in  my  home."  When  she  was 
told  that  one  dollar  was  all  that  she  owed,  she  protested  and 
said:  "Only  one  dollar  for  this  great  book.  Oh,  please 
accept  at  least  two  dollars.    It  is  worth  so  much  more  to 


me." 


Personal  Work.  Another  colporteur  was  visiting  one  of 
the  largest  hospitals  in  Pittsburgh.  He  was  conducted  to  the 
bed  of  a  Polish  man  whose  arm  was  badly  injured.  The  man 
refused  to  have  it  amputated,  although  he  knew  that  with- 
out amputation  he  could  not  survive  another  day.  He  was 
discouraged  and  preferred  to  die.  The  colporteur  spoke 
kindly  to  him  and  read  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  and 
prayed  with  him.  The  man  spoke  little,  but  tears  were 
noticed  in  his  eyes.  As  they  parted  the  colporteur  left  a 
Polish  New  Testament  on  his  bed.  When  he  came  the  next 
time,  the  patient  was  gone.  His  arm  had  been  amputated 
and  he  had  recovered  and  left  the  hospital.  In  about  six 
months  after  this  incident  the  colporteur  was  passing  through 
an  alley  when  a  one-armed  man  called  from  a  window  ask- 
ing him  to  come  in.  He  said:  "You  do  not  remember  me 
but  I  remember  you.  You  visited  me  when  I  was  in  the 
hospital.  You  prayed  with  me  and  you  left  this  little  book 
on  my  bed.  I  read  it  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  through 
this  book  I  came  to  the  knowledge  of  my  Saviour  and  I 
am  a  far  happier  man  with  one  arm  than  I  ever  was  with 
two  arms.  Through  references  in  this  book  I  learned  also 
that  there  must  be  a  bigger  book,  and  I  want  to  have  it." 
He  then  purchased  a  copy  of  the  Polish  Bible  from  the 
colporteur.  The  colporteur  has  never  met  him  since  and 
does  not  know  of  what  church  he  is  a  member,  but  he 
knows  that  he  found  the  Book  of  life. 

A  Slovak  Bible  was  left  by  one  of  our  colporteurs  in  a 
house  where  four  men  were  gambling,  and  a  woman  was 
serving];  beer.     The  coloorteur  managed  to  leave  a   Bible 


96  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

in  the  house,  asking  the  people  to  read  it,  promising  that  he 
would  call  again  sometime  and  see  how  they  liked  it. 

However,  he  did  not  call  until  about  a  year  after  this 
incident.  When  he  opened  the  door  he  found  the  room  in 
perfect  order,  a  clean  cloth  on  the  table,  and  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  Bible  which  was  lying  on  the  table,  and  which 
he  recognized,  he  would  have  thought  that  he  entered  the 
wrong  house.  Husband  and  wife  recognized  the  colporteur. 
They  related  to  him  the  story  of  the  wonderful  change  in 
their  family  life  since  they  began  to  read  the  Bible.  "This 
book  is  now  most  precious  to  our  home,"  the  man  said, 
"no  drinking  or  gambling  is  going  on  here  any  more.  We 
are  trying  to  live  according  to  the  Word  of  God  and  we 
cannot  thank  you  enough  for  this  book." 

Results.  The  report  of  a  single  year's  work  of  the 
colporteurs  will  convey  an  idea  of  the  far-reaching  influence 
of  their  labors.  During  the  year  ending  March  31,  1920, 
there  were  thirty-seven  colporteurs  engaged,  some  of  them 
serving  only  a  portion  of  the  year.  Their  reports  show  that 
46,959  families  were  visited,  and  that  most  of  them  were 
destitute  of  the  Bible.  They  distributed  by  sale  and 
gift  6734  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  besides  12,818  other 
religious  books,  and  123,010  tracts  containing  the  gospel 
message,  in  at  least  twenty  different  languages. 

Building  on  a  Colporteur's  Foundation.  Eight  years 
ago  Rev.  William  J.  Bell  left  Princeton  Seminary  to  work 
for  a  few  weeks  as  an  investigator  on  the  Mesaba  Range  of 
Northern  Minnesota.  He  was  a  Minnesota  boy  and  knew 
the  pioneer  work  of  the  late  Frank  Higgins,  lumberjack 
1  missionary  of  that  state.  His  intention  was  to  spend  a  few 
weeks  on  Higgins'  old  trail  and  then  to  go  abroad  for  a 
year's  study  in  Europe  before  returning  to  this  country  s 
for  missionary  work.  But  what  he  found  on  Higgins'  old 
trail  drove  out  of  his  head  all  notion  of  going  to  Europe  or 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  97 

anywhere  else.  He  found  that  the  25,000  lumberjacks  of 
Higgins'  day  had  been  supplanted  by  200,000  miners  — 
eighty-seven  per  cent  of  them  foreign-born  —  representing 
some  twenty  different  nationalities.  It  was  a  country  as  un- 
like America  as  Russia  or  Finland. 

Bell  began  as  an  investigator,  then  worked  as  a  colporteur 
going  from  house  to  house,  getting  acquainted  with  the 
people  and  winning  his  way  into  their  hearts  by  his  sincerity 
and  his  friendliness.  After  a  while  he  opened  a  Daily  Vaca- 
tion Bible  School  where  six  days  a  week  through  the  summer 
he  taught  the  children  of  these  foreigners  songs,  stories, 
games,  and  handwork.  The  school  soon  became  popular 
with  both  children  and  parents.  The  next  year  he  opened 
another  and  then  still  others  in  various  villages  and  ''loca- 
tions" on  the  Mesaba  and  Vermilion  Iron  Ranges.  Classes 
and  clubs  for  both  men  and  women  followed  quickly. 

Some  months  ago  the  writer  visited  Bell  and  for  two  or 
three  days  hung  on  to  his  coat  tails.  He  is  a  human  dynamo. 
Somehow  he  has  been  conducting  educational  and  religious 
work  in  twenty  centers  strung  out  along  a  hundred  miles 
of  the  Mesaba  and  Vermilion  Ranges.  And  when  in  sum- 
mer his  vacation  schools  have  finished  their  courses  and 
dismissed  their  750  children,  he  rests  himself  conducting 
camps  for  more  than  500  children  of  immigrants.  To  be 
sure  he  doesn't  do  it  all  himself. 

"But  where  do  you  get  your  helpers?" 

"Most  of  them  are  young  immigrants  who  were  members 
of  these  classes  themselves  a  few  years  ago.  They  go  away 
to  college  and  university  and  then  come  back  to  serve  their 
own  people  here." 

If  a  final  proof  of  the  efficacy  of  the  methods  of  these 
pathfinders  was  needed,  it  came  one  day  in  a  classroom 
conducted  by  a  Finnish  worker  of  Bell's  staff.  In  the  midst 
of  the  devotional  hour  when  all  the  children  were  assembled 


98  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

for  songs  and  stories,  an  irate  Finnish  father  burst  into 
the  room  and  demanded  between  oaths  that  his  son  leave 
the  school  at  once  and  return  to  his  own  home.  Quickly 
the  little  teacher  walked  up  to  him  and  spoke  to  him  quietly 
in  his  own  tongue. 

"What!  You  are  a  Finn?"  he  exclaimed  in  their  common 
language.  His  anger  gave  way  to  wonder  and  then  to  en- 
thusiasm as  the  little  teacher  told  him  about  the  school. 
"Wait!"  he  said,  and  hurried  out  of  the  room.  Five  minutes 
later  he  returned  bringing  his  young  daughter  and  handed 
her  over  to  the  teacher  to  be  enrolled. 

"Bell,"  the  writer  said,  as  he  prepared  to  return,  "is  there 
anything  I  can  do  for  you  back  East?" 

"Recruit  more  workers  for  me,"  he  said.  "We  are  touching ,] 
only  the  fringes  of  this  job,  and  the  I.  W.  W.  and  other} 
radical   organizations  are  spending   many   times  as  much 
among  these  immigrants  as  we  are."  *■ 

The  Unfinished  Task  on  the  Iron  Ranges.  "What 
do  you  want  these  trained  workers  for?" 

"I  want  them  to  provide  Christian  leadership  for  these 
people,  to  visit  them  in  their  homes,  to  make  friends  with 
them,  and  personify  for  them  all  that  is  best  in  America 
in  the  way  of  democracy,  fellowship,  and  neighborliness.  I 
want  leaders  strong  enough  to  command  the  respect  and  co- 
operation of  the  school  authorities,  the  mining  companies, 
the  company  doctors,  municipal  nurses,  and  company  offi- 
cials. I  want  leaders  who  understand  the  materials  and 
methods  of  Christian  education  and  who  can  teach  the  young 
people  on  week  days  as  well  as  on  Sundays.  I  could  easily 
use  ten  such  leaders  now  in  a  territory  here  on  the  ranges 
which  is  as  yet  absolutely  untouched.  I  want  leaders  who 
have  executive  power  too,  and  who  can  help  these  people  se- 
cure neighborhood  houses  properly  equipped,  to  carry  on  our 
cooperative    efforts    in    building    a    Christian    American 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  99 

democracy.  Send  me  such  leaders  and  I  will  promise 
them  —  " 

"Well,  what  will  you  promise  them?" 

"I  will  promise  them  a  chance  to  invest  their  lives  in 
building  up  a  great  Christian  country.  I  will  promise  them 
a  man's  job,  a  long  fight,  and  the  confidence  of  ultimate 
victory.  I  will  promise  them  the  friendship  of  these 
children." 

Summing  Up  the  Unfinished  Task.  These  glimpses 
of  the  work  on  the  Iron  Ranges  and  of  the  colporteurs  and  of 
the  twelve  major  city  presbyteries  are  altogether  inadequate 
to  portray  either  the  size  of  the  task  or  the  efforts  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  to  solve  it.  We  have  not  even  men- 
tioned the  1,500,000  migrant  laborers  who  work  in  harvest 
fields,  truck  patches,  vineyards,  orchards,  and  lumber  camps 
a  few  weeks  or  months  at  a  time  and  then  move  on  like 
Ishmaelites  to  other  communities,  never  staying  anywhere 
long  enough  to  be  reached  by  the  traditional  methods  of 
local  churches.  And  what  of  the  300,000  Negroes  who 
have  migrated  from  the  South  during  the  last  few  years  to 
the  industrial  centers  of  the  North  and  who  now  live  among 
the  very  worst  conditions  of  the  so-called  civilized  life? 
And  just  now  the  papers  are  telling  us  that  from  15,000,000 
to  25,000,000  foreigners  are  determined  to  come  to  America. 
These  figures  stagger  the  imagination;  they  present  a 
problem  far  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  Presbyterian  organi- 
zation to  reach,  but  that  does  not  excuse  us  from  making 
the  effort.  Let  us  pause  and  try  to  get  a  perspective  on 
this  business. 

Perspective.  The  purport  of  this  book  is  this:  As 
Christians  we  are  working  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of  God 
—  the  time  when  men  shall  live  together  in  justice,  right- 
eousness, and  brotherhood,  in  fellowship  with  God.  As 
Presbyterians  we  have  historically  been  especially  vigorous 


loo  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

in  removing  certain  obstacles  that  prevented  men  from 
establishing  such  a  Kingdom,  and  to  that  end  have  fought 
for  political  and  religious  freedom  and  for  education.  The 
task  that  confronts  us  in  industrial  centers  is  in  line  with 
our  purpose  as  Christians  and  our  history  as  Presbyterians. 
It  is  to  help  the  millions  of  men  and  women  who  live  in 

\  America's  industrial  centers,  the  great  majority  of  them 
immigrants,  first  to  a  closer  fellowship  with  God,  and  second 
actually  to  secure  the  political  and  religious  freedom  and 
the  education  they  need  for  the  fullest  development  of  their 
characters. 

I       The  Only  Solution.     The  task  is  beyond  our  organi- 
zation, but  not  beyond  us  as  individual  Christians.    If  each    } 
of  the  1,600,000  Presbyterians  in  America  would  extend  a  , 
sympathetic  and  friendly  hand  to  the  immigrants  in  his  own  | 
community,   the   immigrant   '^problem"  would   dissolve   in  i 
mutual  understanding.     If  each  of  us  lived  out  in  daily  ] 
practice  the  Golden  Rule,  industrial  warfare  would  give  way 
to  brotherhood. 

Old-Fashioned  Neighborliness.  It  is  for  such  man- 
to-man  friendship  that  Dr.  William  P.  Shriver  appeals  in 
his  account  of  the  work  of  the  Neighborhood  House,  at  Gary 
Indiana. 

The  core  of  Christian  Americanization  is  nothing  more, 
nor  less,  than  old-fashioned  neighborliness.  Kindness  born 
of  a  sense  of  kinship  is  the  strong  tie  to  bind  us  in  our  new 
community  relations.  For  that  the  steel  towns,  the  mill 
towns,  the  mining  camps  wait.  For  that  the  heart  of  the 
immigrant,  far  from  the  old  home,  amidst  the  strangeness 
and  perplexities  of  a  new  world,  is  fertile  soil.  "A  neighbor 
for  every  foreign  family,"  might  well  be  the  slogan  of  many  a 
community  that  is  asking  to-day,  "What  can  we  do  for 
the  immigrant?" 

For  the  foreign  quarter,  the  polyglot  community,  the 
"Little  Italy"  on  the  other  side  of  the  tracks,  this  purpose 


IN   INDUSTRIAL   COMMUNITIES  loi 

of  a  Christian  neighborliness  may  often  best  be  translated 
through  a  Neighborhood  House.  Let  it  be  as  simple  as 
possible,  an  old  house  converted  to  a  new  service,  freshened 
by  paint,  made  homelike  and  inviting,  a  cheerful  place  for 
meeting  and  getting  acquainted,  for  friendly  helpfulness 
according  to  the  need  of  that  particular  community,  and  a 
new  door  will  have  to  be  opened  out  into  all  that  finer, 
fairer  community  life  with  which  we  associate  the  best  of 
America. 

Ten  years  ago  the  Neighborhood  House  at  Gary,  at  that 
wonder  center  of  the  steel  industry,  was  inaugurated  in  this 
simple  way.  To-day  it  is  housed  in  a  building  erected  in 
successive  stages  at  a  cost  of  $50,000.  Its  equipment  and 
activities  reflect  the  social  and  religious  needs  of  the  foreign 
and  polyglot  community  of  South  Gary.  There  are  widows 
of  the  steel  workers  who  must  go  out  daily  to  work ;  for  their 
babies  there  is  a  day  nursery.  During  the  summer  an  im- 
mense amount  of  infant  welfare  work  is  done  in  the  station 
established  at  the  house.  A  visiting  nurse  employed  by 
the  city  makes  her  headquarters  there.  Out  of  a  total  of 
57,000  attendants  at  the  week-day  activities  of  the  house 
in  a  year,  one  fourth  were  reached  in  the  interest  of  health 
and  better  conditions  of  physical  life,  through  the  friendl}'^ 
service  of  the  day  and  night  nursery,  the  clinic,  the  baths, 
and  sickness  treated.  So  the  urgent  need  of  the  neighbor- 
hood registers  itself  in  the  program  of  the  Gary  Neighbor- 
hood House. 

There  is  a  laundry  where  every  facility  is  furnished  for 
doing  the  family  wash.  An  employment  bureau  last  year 
provided  3500  pieces  of  day's  work,  especially  for  women. 
Many  permanent  positions,  mostly  in  homes,  were  found. 
The  house  is  used  as  a  meeting  place  for  various  immigrant 
and  fraternal  societies.  There  are  lectures,  a  library,  classes 
in  English  for  coming  Americans,  piano  lessons  and  practice, 
cooking  and  needlework  classes,  boys'  and  girls'  clubs,  and 
gardens.  At  every  possible  point  cooperation  is  established 
with  the  churches,  schools,  associated  charities,  Red  Cross, 
physicians,  city  matrons,  hospitals,  probation  officers,  and 
all  public  welfare  and  social  agencies. 

All  this  service  is  an  expression  of  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
The  Neighborhood  House  is  a  modern  incarnation  of  a  liv- 


102  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

ing,  loving,  serving  Teacher  and  Friend.  It  is  a  gospel  of 
acts  for  the  foreigners,  for  whom,  too  often,  our  Christ  has 
been  only  a  dead  Christ  presented  in  form  and  sacrament 
and  ceremony.  There  is  a  Sunday  school  with  an  average 
attendance  of  145.  The  week-day  religious  school,  con- 
ducted cooperatively  under  the  Gary  plan,  enlists  an  attend- 
ance of  100  twice  a  week.  Within  the  fellowship  of  the 
house  has  developed  a  society  of  Christians,  the  Church  of 
the  Saviour,  with  worship  in  English,  Slovak,  and  Italian. 

At  the  heart  of  this  house,  are  those  who  think  and  plan 
and  hold  out  their  hands  in  neighborly  fashion.  Rev.  Ralph 
Cummins,  director,  an  honor  graduate  of  McCormick  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  spent  fifteen  months  in  southern  Europe 
as  an  immigration  fellow  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions. 
He  knows  the  peasant  immigrant  both  here  and  over  there. 
To  the  field  of  the  immigrant  and  industrial  community  he 
has  given  his  life  in  the  same  fine  devotion  with  which  other 
younger  ministers  have  chosen  the  foreign  field.  Mrs.  Cum- 
mins, a  graduate  nurse,  has  planned  and  directed  the  nursery, 
the  clinic,  and  the  round  of  home  visitation.  Both  of  these 
leaders  embody  the  inspiring  spirit  of  the  New  Home 
Missions. 

The  Neighborhood  House  is  a  valued  asset  in  any  pro- 
gram of  Christian  Americanization.  It  affords  opportunity 
for  the  mutual  interchange  of  the  best  of  immigrant  life 
and  tradition  and  the  best  and  most  hopeful  Americanism. 
It  reproduces  the  informal  and  grateful  ministry  of  Jesus. 
There  could  be  no  finer  contribution  on  the  part  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  to  our  new  American  life  than  a  hun- 
dred of  these  Neighborhood  Houses  spread  across  this 
country  from  coast  to  coast. 


IN    INDUSTRIAL    COMMUNITIES  103 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  Why  in  industrial  centers  is  it  especially  hard  to  get 

hold  of  the  spirits  of  men? 

2.  Describe  the  arrival  and  settlement  of  a  typical  Polish 

immigrant  in  this  country. 

3.  How   many   foreign  born   are   there   in   the    United 

States?     Where  do  they  live? 

4.  Sketch  the  present  church  and  immigrant  situation  in 

Greater  New  York.    In  your  own  community. 

5.  What  are  "Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools"? 

6.  What  are  "Boards  of  Church  Extension"?    How  many 

of  these  are  there  at  present?  Where,  for  example? 
Mention  at  least  four  different  lines  of  work  they  are 
trying. 

7.  At  what  stage  is  our  work  among  the  immigrants? 

Why  has  the  Church  established  a  welfare  worker 
at  Ellis  Island? 

3.  Describe  the  task  of  a  colporteur  showing  its  diffl- 
cidties  and  its  opportunities. 

9.  The  Iron  Ranges.  Where  are  they?  Why  is  Chris- 
tian Americanization  work  needed  there?  What 
has  been  done?     What  further  ought  to  be  done? 

10.  In  immigrant  work  what  is  the  value  of  "old-fashioned 

neighborliness"? 

11.  Demonstrate    the    significance    of    a    Neighborhood 

House  in  a  foreign  section. 

12.  Is  there  an  immigrant  "colony"  in  or  near  your  com- 

munity? What  is  your  church  doing  to  extend 
neighborliness  to  it?  What  are  you  not  doing? 
What  more  should  you  do  as  a  church  and  as  in- 
dividuals? 


CHAPTER    IV 
IN  RURAL  COMMUNITIES 


IN  RURAL  COMMUNITIES 

THE    CHALLENGE 
Of  the  Field 

/  Fifty-four  million  people  are  living  in  rural  and 
small  town  communities  of  less  than  5000  population. 
The  problems  facing  the  Church  are  shifting  popula- 
tion, declining  Church  membership,  lack  of  community 
centers  and  community  leadership,  the  circuit  sys- 
tem, nonresident  ministry,  inadequate  equipment,  and 
denominational  overlapping. 

The  Ohio  Rural  Life  Survey  found  that  of  1515 
churches  in  thirty-one  counties  more  than  two  thirds 
were  arrested  or  dying. 

Very  few  country  churches  receive  the  full  time  of  a 
pastor.  Ministers  cross  and  recross  one  another's 
paths,  serving  two,  four,  or  even  eight  and  ten 
churches.  Of  the  17,000  country  churches  of  one  de- 
nomination, 12,000  are  without  services  every  Sunday. 
Another  denomination  has  nine  tenths  of  its  rural 
churches  served  by  absentee  pastors:  and  three 
fourths  of  its  churches  have  but  one  service  per 
month;  while  one  fourth  has  no  Sunday  school  at  all. 

There  is  a  close  relation  between  the  decadence  of 
country  populations  and  the  degeneration  of  rural 
stock.  Rev.  C.  O.  Gill  in  his  book  "Six  Thousand 
Country  Churches"  shows  that  illiteracy,  illegitimacy, 
crime,  and  physical  degeneracy  correspond  in  their 
frequency  to  the  decay  of  the  country  church  and  the 
substitution  for  it  of  an  emotional,  irresponsible  re- 
ligious type  —  a  great  danger  to  Protestantism  and 
Americanism. 

American    Volume  —  Inter  church   Survey. 


IN   RURAL  COMMUNITIES 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

With  the  aid  of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions,  418 
ministers  are  serving  more  than  1000  churches.  This 
is  the  historic  "American  Work"  of  the  Board.  About 
nine  out  of  ten  Presbyterian  churches  in  this  country 
to-day  were  at  one  time  home  mission  churches  of 
this  type.  The  Board's  aim  is  to  develop  weak 
churches  into  strong,  self-supporting  ones  with  resi- 
dent pastors,  with  proper  equipment  and  without 
waste  of  money  and  effort  in  competition  with  other 
denominations. 

This  Board,  through  its  Country  Life  Department, 
is  also  administering  fifty-three  demonstration  coun- 
try parishes  in  the  Middle  West,  Southland  Far  West, 
each  with  a  resident  pastor  and  with  each  securing  as 
rapidly  as  possible  the  equipment  needed  for  its  par- 
ticular field. 

In  cooperation  with  other  denominations,  ten  sum- 
mer schools  are  being  conducted  for  country  minis- 
ters. These  schools  deal  not  only  with  the  fundamen- 
tal philosophy  underlying  the  building  up  of  a  Chris- 
tian rural  community  life,  but  with  practical  and  suc- 
cessful methods  as  well. 

To  build  up  a  more  permanent  personnel  in  rural 
fields,  a  strong  recruiting  policy  has  been  adopted  by 
which  specially  trained  young  men  are  being  recruited 
on  five  and  seven  year  contracts,  with  a  living  wage 
and  sufficient  equipment  for  effective  work. 

Through  the  eighteen  self-supporting  synods  and 
presbyteries  which  administer  their  own  work,  simi- 
lar attempts  are  being  made  to  develop  rural  fields 
under  resident  ministers  on  long  term  service  plans. 

We  have  every  right  to  feel  proud  of  our  home  mis- 
sion work  in  rural  and  frontier  communities,  but  the 
plain  fact  is  that  the  Presbyterian  Church  still  toler- 
ates the  pernicious  circuit  system,  still  underpays  its 
ministers,  and  still  is  content  to  go  along  in  the  old 
ruts  with  an  outworn  program  that  does  not  meet  the 
needs  of  present-day  communities  or  materially  help 
country  people  in   their  spiritual  battles. 


Chapter  IV 

IN   RURAL   COMMUNITIES 

The  Task  of  the  Church  in  the  Country.  The  task 
of  the  Church  in  the  city  is  to  save  men's  spirits  from  burn- 
ing up  in  the  competitive  race  for  business.  It  is  a  race 
where  a  man  is  subjected  to  all  the  temptations  of  greed, 
passion,  and  cruelty.  Unnatural  living  conditions,  the 
pressure  of  crowds,  and  the  roar  of  machinery  must  be 
overcome  before  a  man  may  listen  to  the  still  small  voice 
of  God  in  his  soul. 

The  task  of  the  Church  in  the  country  is  also  to  save 
men's  spirits,  and  to  make  them  one  with  God,  but  the 
obstacles  to  be  overcome  are  different.  The  farmer's  spirit-^ 
ual  war  is  against  individualism,  isolation,  narrowness  of 
mind  and  heart,  a  false  independence,  and  the  malignity 
that  breeds  in  moral  and  social  stagnation.  Somehow  the 
Church  must  help  the  farmer  to  win  this  war.  It  must  help 
him  to  put  cooperation  in  the  place  of  individualism,  and 
breadth  of  sympathy  and  understanding  in  the  place  of 
narrowness.  It  must  see  that  there  is  no  moral  or  social 
stagnation  in  the  farmer's  community,  but  instead  a  whole- 
some happy  life  for  himself,  his  wife,  and  his  children  in 
fellowship  with  God. 

In  Fellowship  with  God  —  that  is  the  Church's  end  as 
well  as  its  method.  Other  organizations,  the  Grange,  the 
school,  the  lodge,  and  a  score  of  social  and  commercial 
agencies,  are  endeavoring  to  improve  social  conditions  in 

io8 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  109 

the  country  and  the  Church  must  work  with  them  all.  But 
the  task  of  the  Church  is  fundamental  to  them  all,  for  unless 
a  man's  life  is  so  controlled  by  a  living,  indwelling  God  that 
he  desires  to  conform  his  conduct  to  Christ's  law  of  love 
and  service,  there  is  small  chance  of  educating  him  in  any- 
thing except  selfishness.  You  may  teach  him  how  to  raise 
more  corn,  but  he  will  use  his  knowledge  only  to  "feed  more 
hogs,  to  buy  more  land,  to  raise  more  corn,  to  feed  more 
hogs,  to  buy  more  land,"  and  so  on  until  he  is  gathered  to 
his  fathers  in  the  village  cemetery.  It  is  the  frank  purpose 
of  getting  men  in  fellowship  with  God  that  distinguishes 
the  task  of  the  Church  from  every  other  social  agency. 

The  Struggle  to  Survive.  So  much  for  the  task  of 
the  Church  in  the  country.  For  the  last  three  decades  this 
task  has  been  increasingly  difficult.  The  country  church  has 
been  engaged  in  a  terrific  struggle  to  survive.  So  long  as 
its  task  was  among  a  settled  population  where  generation 
after  generation  lived  on  the  same  land,  worshiped  in  the 
same  church,  and  worked  and  played  together  in  the  same 
homes  and  public  buildings  the  Church's  task  was  simple 
enough,  although  never  easy.  But  economic  and  social 
conditions  have  been  changing  mightily.  First  farm  land 
began  to  soar  in  price  and  more  and  more  it  became  the 
object  of  speculation.  Old  families  began  to  sell  their  farms 
and  move  on  to  cheaper  land.  The  typical  rural  community 
to-day  has  been  undergoing  a  shift  in  the  agricultural  popu- 
lation. The  old  families  moving  out  has  meant  a  breaking 
of  community  ties.  Often  the  old  families  have  been  suc- 
ceeded by  absentee  landlords.  Old  forms  of  recreation  have 
been  passing  away,  community  spirit  and  community  pride 
have  been  at  low  ebb.  Tenant  farming  has  increased.  So- 
cial and  moral  stagnation  have  set  in. 

The  average  country  church  is  face  to  face  with  the 
problem  of  "oldtimer"  and  "newcomer."     The  oldtimers 


no  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

are  for  shifting  the  burdens  of  community  problems  and 
responsibilities  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  newcomers,  and  the 
newcomers  are  for  pushing  them  back  upon  the  oldtimers. 
Add  to  these  problems  of  shifting  population,  changing  com- 
munities and  oldtimer  and  newcomer  difficulties,  the  changes 
that  have  been  brought  about  by  telephones,  rural  mail 
delivery,  automobiles,  mail-order  businesses,  and  consoli- 
dated schools  —  and  you  have  some  conception  of  the  new 
conditions  in  which  the  country  church  works. 

But  changed  though  the  conditions  in  the  country  may  be 
the  average  country  church  has  not  changed  its  program  or 
its  methods.  It  has  been  stumbling  along  in  the  old  ruts 
and  wondering  why  it  made  no  progress.  It  has  been  preach- 
ing and  taking  collections.  Its  order  of  service  is  the  same 
that  it  had  in  pioneer  days  —  a  few  hymns  and  a  sermon. 
Then  country  people  seldom  got  together  in  any  sort  of 
meeting.  The  preacher  was  the  only  educated  man  in  the 
community.  He  was  newspaper  and  magazine  as  well  as 
prophet.  A  social  meeting  and  a  sermon  met  a  very  defi- 
nite need.  But  to-day  many  in  the  congregation  are  as 
well  educated  as  the  preacher.  The  spiritual  problems  that 
face  the  congregation  are  largely  social.  Yet  the  preacher 
and  his  message  and  the  old  order  of  service  are  still  in- 
dividual and  otherworldly. 

Moreover  the  Church  has  gone  on  wastefully  multiplying 
little  one-celled  church  buildings  until  in  many  parts  of  the 
Middle  West  and  South  we  have  four  church  buildings  where 
there  is  support  for  only  one.  And  instead  of  developing 
a  highly  trained  resident  ministry  for  the  country  church 
we  have  multiplied  circuit  riders  who  live  in  towns  where 
they  do  not  preach  and  preach  in  the  country  where  they  do 
not  live. 

Because  the  country  church  has  failed  to  adapt  itself  to 
changed  conditions  in  the  country   and   failed   to   apply 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  iii 

business  sense  in  administering  its  work  as  an  institution 
the  struggle  for  survival  has  been  going  hard  with  it.  The 
rural  survey  of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement  tells  a 
story  of  decline  and  decay  that  challenges  the  earnest 
thought  of  every  American. 

Decreasing  Numbers  in  Country  Communities  and 
Country  Churches.  From  a  thriving  country  church  of 
fifty-five  families  in  19 17  one  congregation  has  lost  twenty- 
seven  in  the  last  three  years.  Nearly  half  of  the  families 
in  this  Michigan  rural  community  closed  their  homes  and 
moved  either  to  Detroit  or  Flint.  The  graduating  class  of 
the  high  school  numbered  twenty  in  1918,  six  in  19 19,  and 
last  year  three.  This  tells  the  story  of  what  has  been  hap- 
pening in  greater  or  less  degree  in  thousands  of  country 
churches.  Excluding  the  incorporated  towns  of  under  2500 
population,  rural  America  lost  slightly  in  population  during 
the  last  census  period.  Everywhere  except  in  the  newest 
sections,  country  churches  are  reporting  diminishing  mem- 
berships. An  analysis  of  seventeen  counties  in  one  repre- 
sentative state,  covering  738  churches,  shows  that  less  than 
two  fifths  are  growing,  while  nearly  one  fifth  has  given  up 
the  struggle  to  survive. 

The  Ineffectiveness  of  the  Too  Small  Church. 
This  naturally  makes  for  a  small  country  church.  Dr.  Gill's 
study  of  nearly  7000  country  churches  in  Ohio  in  19 16 
showed  that  more  than  half  had  less  than  75  members. 
From  county  after  county  reports  of  the  Interchurch  Survey 
showed  that  from  thirty-five  to  fifty-five  per  cent  of  the 
churches  in  the  open  country  had  less  than  twenty-five 
members.  It  is  a  dull  and  uninspiring  church  life  at  the  best, 
which  such  meager  groups  sustain.  Too  few  for  aggressive, 
telling  work,  too  poor  collectively  to  have  either  adequate 
equipment  or  ministry,  too  small  to  provide  enthusiasm  and 
leadership   for  service,  such  churches,  results  thus  far  in 


112  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

hand  would  indicate,  have  but  one  chance  in  four  of  sur- 
viving. I 

Inadequate  Leadership.  Some  of  these  struggling 
churches  that  happen  to  be  in  stragetic  places  might  be  im- 
bued with  new  life  and  vision,  were  the  leadership  adequate. 
Too  frequently,  however,  the  country  pastor  is  not  fitted  to 
cope  with  the  changing  conditions  of  these  times.  College 
and  seminary  men  are  rare  in  the  open  country  ministry, 
unless  it  be  that  they  motor  out  from  some  town  or  city  to 
preach  a  sermon,  receive  an  honorarium,  and  ride  away. 
One  of  the  most  progressive  denominations  in  a  prosperous 
eastern  state  reports  that  sixty  per  cent  of  its  rural  pastors 
have  not  had  college  or  seminary  preparation  for  their 
iwork.  Four  of  the  largest  denominations  serving  rural 
America  admit  that  not  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  their 
country  ministers  have  had  such  training.  Some  counties 
have  been  found  in  which  not  a  minister  was  so  trained. 
Quite  apart  from  the  salary  question,  the  young  man  of  to- 
day, adequately  trained,  is  not  interested  in  the  task  of 
holding  together  small  and  ever  smaller  groups  of  people  in 
organized  congregations  just  because  the  idea  persists  that 
denominational  well-being  is  thus  benefited.  Hence,  though 
there  are  notable  exceptions,  trained  religious  leadership  is 
still  to  be  supplied  to  the  average  country  community. 

The  Pernicious  Circuit  System.  This  general  situa- 
tion, as  well  as  the  legacy  of  the  past,  has  fastened  upon  the 
Church  that  evil  known  as  the  circuit  system.  Ministers 
are  asked  to  divide  their  time  among  several  country  congre- 
gations. They  are  assigned  three,  four,  six,  even  eight  to 
a  dozen  churches  which  become  points  on  the  circuit  of  the 
minister.  This  system  reduces  the  servant  of  the  Lord  to 
the  position  of  a  traveling  peddler  of  sermons.  Pastoral 
work  that  means  so  much  in  its  intimate  contact  becomes 
impossible.     Residence  with  the  majority  of  his  congrega- 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  113 

tion,  with  that  type  of  careful  executive  oversight  that  this 
implies,  is  out  of  the  question.  The  system  is  general 
throughout  America.  It  is  an  exceptional  county  that 
shows  more  than  one  out  of  every  four  of  its  ministers 
giving  full  time  to  but  one  congregation.  The  acid  test 
of  any  system  is  the  result  it  produces.  With  at  least  two 
out  of  every  three  country  churches  in  America  closed  on  any 
given  Sunday  in  the  year,  the  Church  itself  supplies  the 
opening  wedge  for  Sabbath-breaking.  Denominationalism 
demands  that  communities  keep  the  Lord's  Day  only  as 
often  as  the  circuit  rider  can  meet  his  appointments.  The 
inefficiency  of  the  plan  is  further  revealed  when  it  is  realized 
that  ministers  travel  thousands  of  miles,  crossing  and  re- 
crossing  one  another's  paths  to  keep  their  appointments. 
Often  they  pass  through  areas  entirely  untouched  by  the 
Church,  because  the  church  without  a  resident  pastor  on 
full  time  to  direct  its  energies  does  not  stretch  out  far  from 
the  home  base.  Seeing  that  the  Church  does  not  take  itself 
seriously,  people  treat  it  in  the  same  way.  Many  whole 
communities  are  served  entirely  by  nonresident  pastors  who 
come  from  without  and  travel  around  a  circuit.  One  east- 
ern town  has  three  churches  and  three  resident  ministers. 
None  of  the  resident  ministers,  however,  preaches  in  any 
of  these  churches.  Instead  they  travel  to  stations  scattered 
through  three  counties,  the  churches  in  the  town  being  served 
by  three  men  from  without,  one  of  whom  travels  nearly 
100  miles  a  round  trip  every  time  he  preaches  in  this  town. 
Such  conditions  are  not  unique  by  any  means.  They  can 
be  duplicated  in  every  part  of  America.  One  of  the  richest 
agricultural  townships  in  Pennsylvania  has  four  churches. 
They  are  in  sight  of  one  another.  One  has  two  services  a 
month  and  is  served  by  a  pastor  from  another  state.  The 
second  receives  one  service  a  month  from  a  pastor  ten 
miles  away.    The  pastor  for  the  third  comes  once  a  month 


114  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

on  a  week  night  from  Washington,  D.  C.  The  fourth  church 
has  closed  its  doors.  The  people  could  easily  support  one 
full-time,  resident  pastor  who,  as  a  layman  in  another  rural 
community  said  in  pleading  for  just  this  thing,  "would  be 
a  man  of  God  to  live  among  us,  who  would  occupy  one  of  the 
three  empty  parsonages,  who  would  care  about  our  school 
because  his  children  went  there,  who  would  be  concerned 
about  how  we  played  for  he  and  his  would  play  with  us, 
who  would  understand  our  sorrows,  because  he  would  be  one 
of  us,  who  would  point  the  way  of  God,  by  life  and  direc- 
tion as  well  as  by  an  occasional  word." 

Denominational  Overlapping.  As  has  been  indicated 
the  circuit  system  is  an  excuse  to  keep  together  denomina- 
tional groups  for  the  glory  of  annual  reports.  That  spells 
denominational  overlapping  and  all  the  waste  that  this  form 
of  competition  means.  The  community  from  which  came  the 
layman  quoted  just  above  has  three  churches  for  550  people, 
all  on  part  time.  Across  the  state  line  from  that  town  is  a 
village  of  150,  in  which  six  churches  still  cling  tenaciously 
to  some  sort  of  life.  In  Spring  Mills,  a  hamlet  of  456  people, 
there  are  six  churches,  but  no  resident  ministers.  Within 
a  radius  of  three  quarters  of  a  mile  are  three  churches  of  the 
same  denomination.  In  the  face  of  bettering  roads  this  is 
the  most  inexcusable  type  of  competition.  Instances  could 
be  multiplied  but  results  are  more  to  our  purpose. 

Apply  this  situation  to  a  given  county.  We  find  seven 
communities  with  seventy  churches,  not  one  of  which  has  a 
noncompetitive  field.  Of  the  seventeen  clergymen  residing 
in  the  county  only  four  live  near  any  one  of  the  churches 
which  they  serve.  Not  one  gives  his  undivided  attention  to 
any  single  church.  Nineteen  ministers  living  outside  of  the 
county  enter  it  to  preach  at  various  points.  On  an  average 
they  travel  almost  twenty  miles  to  reach  their  stations.  The 
parishes  of  some  of  these  churches  compete  with  as  many  as 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  115 

twelve  of  their  neighbors.  Yet  there  are  nine  considerable 
areas  within  this  county  that  do  not  receive  the  attention  of 
any  church  although  ministers  ride  through  them  to  reach 
their  appointments.  Of  the  churches  in  this  county  only 
four  have  as  many  as  four  services  a  month.  Ten  have  had 
no  meeting  for  half  a  year  or  more.  A  score  have  but  one 
service  a  month,  twenty-eight  have  two  services,  and  two, 
three.  The  balance  is  entirely  abandoned.  The  circuit 
plan,  the  overlapping,  in  short  the  system  on  which  we  try  to 
administer  the  rural  church  in  America,  is  therefore  respon- 
sible through  this  type  of  service,  not  only  for  unevangelized 
areas  but  for  whole  townships  and  communities  that  are 
actually  neglected  because  of  the  effort  to  hold  allegiance 
merely  by  occasional  preaching. 

The  situation  of  this  county  is  no  worse  than  the  average. 
In  one  of  the  richest  counties  of  the  corn  belt  forty-one 
churches  leave  one  quarter  of  the  area  and  more  than  one 
quarter  of  the  population  outside  their  ministry,  while  no 
church,  on  the  other  hand,  is  free  from  competition  from 
some  of  its  neighbors.  In  a  New  England  community  of 
twenty-six  square  miles  this  process  has  run  its  course. 
Last  year  eight  abandoned  churches  in  that  area  told  the 
story  of  destruction  through  competition  and  its  attendant 
evils.  To-day,  cooperatively,  one  resident  leader  is  reaching 
the  entire  region  and  securing  real  response. 

Inadequate  Program.  The  program  of  the  Church  on 
a  circuit  is  nothing  more  than  its  once  or  twice  a  month 
preaching  service  and  an  annual  revival.  No  city  church 
could  be  sustained  on  this  basis  and  country  churches  cannot 
either.  Between  one  sixth  and  one  quarter  of  churches 
on  circuits  have  not  even  the  most  elementary  sort  of  Sunday 
school.  The  pastor  of  one  church  remarked  that  the  future 
of  the  Church  lay  with  its  young  people.  Out  of  ninety- 
five  members  of  this  church  fifty-five  were  under  twenty-one 


ii6  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

years  of  age.  Yet  this  church  had  no  young  people's  society, 
no  leadership  training,  no  social  life,  not  even  a  Sunday- 
school  picnic.  The  pastor  preached  twice  a  month  but  did 
not  even  attend  Sunday  school.  The  future  of  the  Church, 
however,  "lies  with  the  young  people."  Are  they  to  blame 
if  they  let  it  die? 

Starvation  Salaries.  It  is  sometimes  said  in  defense  of 
the  circuit  system  that  it  enables  the  country  people  to  have 
some  sort  of  religious  ministration  within  reach  of  what  they 
can  afford  and  that  it  gives  to  the  minister  a  wage  higher 
than  he  could  hope  for  did  he  serve  but  one  congre- 
gation. 

What  are  the  facts?  In  one  of  the  richest  agricultural 
counties  in  the  east,  a  trucking  county,  only  fifteen  per  cent 
of  the  ministers  receive  $1500  or  more,  including  the  value  of 
the  parsonage.  More  than  one  third  must  resort  to  other 
occupations  to  make  both  ends  meet.  In  another  state  the 
ministers  of  seventeen  counties  were  studied  and  more  than 
half  had  to  divide  their  time  between  their  churches  and 
some  secular  occupation.  In  a  score  or  more  of  counties  the 
average  annual  wage  was  less  than  $100  and  in  several  less 
than  $35.  County  after  county  in  every  section  of  the  coun- 
try fails  to  show  a  minister  who  needs  to  pay  an  income  tax. 
The  average  wage  of  most  is  below  the  income  of  the  rubber 
and  shoe  workers. 

The  record  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  matter  of 
salaries  is  not  a  happy  record  to  contemplate.  The  statistics 
in  the  American  Volume  of  the  Interchurch  World  Survey 
show  that  the  average  salary  of  a  Presbyterian  (North) 
minister  is  only  $1393  including  his  house,  although  the 
government  has  estimated  that  the  bare  cost  of  living  for 
an  average  American  family  is  $1500.  Our  support  of  re- 
tired ministers  and  widows  and  orphans  of  ministers  is  even 
less  worthy.    The  maximum  relief  that  the  Board  of  Min- 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  117 

isterial  Relief  and  Sustentation  was  able  to  give  to  any  re- 
tired minister  during  the  year  ending  March  31,  19 19  (the 
last  figures  available)  was  $400.  Two  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine  honor  roll  retired  ministers  received  an  average  of  only 
$334;  421  other  ministers  received  an  average  of  $271; 
900  widows  received  an  average  of  $179,  and  no  widow  was 
allowed  more  than  $300.  "The  Church  which  fails  to  take 
care  of  its  ministers  when  they  have  worn  themselves  out  in 
its  service,  will  shortly  have  no  ministers  wearing  them- 
selves out  for  it." 

Put  Yourself  in  the  Minister's  Place.  In  the  large, 
facts  like  this  make  little  impression.  Think  yourself  into 
the  personal  situation  of  the  spiritual  leaders  who  face  these 
facts.  Writes  one:  "I  cannot  keep  my  wife  and  baby  at 
the  present  cost  of  living  and  pay  off  the  debt  on  my  educa- 
tion on  a  salary  of  $1 100  a  year  and  house.  We  are  without 
clothes  respectable  for  our  calling.  I  am  starved  both 
physically  and  spiritually  trying  to  live  and  work  in  a  town 
where  there  are  four  Protestant  churches  when  there  should 
be  one.  The  pastor  of  Church  A  receives  several  hundred 
dollars  home  mission  aid.  Church  B  is  one  point  on  a  large 
circuit.  One  hundred  dollars  of  my  salary  (Church  C) 
comes  from  the  Home  Board.  Church  D  (Presbyterian) 
was  closed,  but  with  money  from  their  campaign  they  are 
opening  up  again  with  $400  missionary  money."  Mission- 
ary money!     How  long,  O  Lord,  how  long? 

Jesus  Christ  called  men  to  sacrifice.  He  also  called  them 
to  service  —  service  for  the  Kingdom  of  God.  No  real 
disciple  desires  more  than  the  hire  of  which  he  is  worthy 
as  a  laborer,  which  will  provide  for  the  daily  bread.  But 
never  can  the  best  men  of  America  lay  down  their  lives  as 
a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  starvation  for  the  sake  of  any  less 
cause  than  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Loyalty  to  Jesus  does  not 
demand  submission  to  that  type  of  situation. 


ii8  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

The  Immigrant  in  Town  and  Country.  The  whole 
task  is  being  complicated  in  many  sections,  especially  in  New 
England,  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the  small  fruit  regions 
of  the  Pacific  Coast,  by  the  inrushing  tide  of  foreign  born. 
Nearly  6,000,000  foreign  born  and  another  6,000,000  of  im- 
mediate foreign  extraction  now  live  in  town  and  country 
districts  of  America.  They  bring  different  languages,  dif- 
ferent customs,  and  different  standards  of  living  into  the 
rural  community.  The  Church  must  find  a  way  to  meet 
the  spiritual  needs  of  these  immigrants.  We  must  lead  the 
way  for  a  clearer  mutual  understanding  in  order  that  they 
may  know  what  is  the  best  in  America  and  we  may  know 
what  is  best  in  them  —  and  that  together  we  may  build  up 
a  New  America.  The  survey  returns  of  one  county  of  30,000 
omitted  to  mention  a  community  of  2000.  When  this 
,  omission  was  checked  back  it  was  explained  that  this  com- 
Jmunity  of  2000  was  made  up  of  foreigners  and  was  therefore 
If  of  no  significance  in  the  study  of  the  churches  of  the  county!] 
^'  The  Unfinished  Task.  These,  then,  are  some  of  the' 
outstanding  problems.  Every  county  studied  shows  its 
unevangelized  or  neglected  areas,  reveals  need  for  adjust- 
ment of  parishes  and  ministerial  residences,  for  adequate 
equipment,  enlarged  program,  resident  ministers,  a  unified 
program  of  effort,  and  a  gospel  wide  enough  in  its  applica- 
tion to  include  all  community  relationships  and  needs. 
It  must  meet  the  spiritual  needs  of  its  contemporaries  — 
not  its  forefathers.  If  it  is  to  do  this  it  must  first  eliminate 
its  present  handicaps,  its  outworn  program,  its  wasteful 
competition,  its  nonresident  ministry,  its  insufficiently  pre- 
pared preachers,  its  inadequate  salaries. 

The  Importance  of  This  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church  as  a  Whole.  Seventy  per  cent  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches  of  this  country  are  in  small  towns  or  country  com- 
munities.   Their  struggle  for  survival  is  important  not  only 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  119 

to  themselves,  but  to  the  whole  nation  and  to  the  foreign 
mission  enterprise.  For  both  the  city  church  and  the  foreign 
mission  station  rest  ultimately  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
country  church.  Go  into  any  city  church  and  ask  for  a 
raising  of  hands  to  show  how  many  adults  there  were 
first  led  into  the  church  in  a  rural  or  village  community, 
and  the  chances  are  that  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  the  adults  will  testify  to  their  rural  and  small  town 
origin.  When  the  country  church  loses  out  in  its  struggle  to 
survive,  the  doors  of  the  city  church  will  close  soon  after- 
ward, and  before  that  happens  the  foreign  mission  enter- 
prise will  have  collapsed  for  lack  of  moral  and  financial 
support.  The  country  church  will  not  die,  the  danger  is  that 
it  will  become  a  chronic  invalid  and  fail  in  its  great  mission 
of  helping  country  people  win  their  spiritual  battles. 

What  the  Presbyterian  Church  Is  Doing  About  It. 
Eleven  years  ago  the  Presbyterian  Church,  realizing  the 
trend  of  things  in  the  country,  sent  a  number  of  men  into 
the  field  to  make  careful  studies  of  causes  and  remedies. 
These  studies  have  been  continued  to  this  day.  Out  of 
them  has  come  the  Country  Life  Department's  platform  for 
country  churches: 

One  Church  in  Every  Community 

To  unite  the  people  in  worship  and  service; 

With  the  gospel  and  friendship  for  all; 

With  help  for  every  community  need,  whether  of  good 
roads,  adequate  schools,  social  life,  or  what  not; 

With  Christian  leadership  for  every  occasion  and  co- 
operation for  every  movement  which  contributes  to 
the  betterment  of  mankind. 

A  Resident  Minister  in  Every  Community  Church 

With  the  love  of  the  country  church  and  the  country 

people  in  his  heart; 
With  accurate  and  sympathetic  knowledge  of  his  task 

and  his  community. 


120  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Every  Community  a  Permanent  Home 

Where  no  one  is  poor  or  strange  or  dissatisfied; 

Where  men  are  taught  how  to  live  and  work  in  the 
country  and  to  support  their  homes,  their  institu- 
tions, and  their  community; 

Where  every  generation  transmits  a  richer  heritage  — 
in  lands  and  institutions  and  traditions  —  than  it 
received ; 

Where  there  is  a  satisfaction  in  the  present  and  a  faith 
in  the  future  to  inspire  with  a  confidence  of  eternal 
life. 

Measuring  Church  Efficiency.  In  order  that  the 
country  churches  may  measure  their  own  efficiency  in 
ministering  to  the  needs  of  rural  communities,  a  score  card 
has  been  devised.  The  thirty-one  points  on  this  score  card 
include : 

Social  and  recreational  equipment,  including  a  stage;  a 
well-equipped  kitchen;  an  organ  or  a  piano;  separate  Sun- 
day-school rooms  or  curtained  spaces  for  classes  or  depart- 
ments; stereopticon  or  motion-picture  equipment;  adequate 
sanitary  toilets;  horse  sheds  or  parking  space  for  automo- 
biles; a  pastor  resident  within  the  same  community  as  the 
church,  who  gives  full  time  to  the  work  of  that  church, 
conducts  services  every  Sunday,  and  receives  a  salary  of  at 
least  $1200  a  year  and  house;  an  annual  budget  for  all 
money  raised;  a  yearly  canvass  of  all  members;  sum  for 
benevolences  equal  to  at  least  twenty-five  per  cent  of  the 
current  expenses;  service  to  all  racial  and  occupational 
groups  which  have  not  their  own  Protestant  churches;  Sun- 
day school  the  entire  year;  Sunday-school  enrollment  equal 
to  church  membership;  provision  for  bringing  pupils  into 
the  church;  special  instruction  for  church  membership; 
teacher-training  or  normal  class;  provision  for  leadership 
training;  systematic  evangelism,  aimed  to  reach  the  en- 
tire community  and  all  classes  of  the  community;  coopera- 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  121 

tion  with  other  churches  of  the  community ;  organized  activi- 
ties for  age  and  sex  groups;  cooperation  with  church  boards 
and  denominational  agencies;  service  to  the  entire  com- 
munity; twenty-five  per  cent  of  members  with  a  definite 
place  in  some  part  of  church  activities.^ 

Summer  Schools  for  Country  Ministers.  The  Pres- 
byterian Church,  in  cooperation  with  other  denominations, 
conducts  summer  schools  for  country  ministers.  These  are 
graduate  schools  for  men  who  are  now  actually  working 
out  the  problems  of  the  country  church.  Their  work  is 
conducted  on  the  classroom  principle.  They  are  led  by  men 
selected  primarily  for  their  knowledge  of  rural  problems. 
They  deal  with  the  important  phases  of  community  life  and 
church  work  in  the  country  and  in  villages  and  small  towns. 
They  are  held  as  a  rule  in  the  buildings  of  the  state  col- 
lege of  agriculture  of  various  states.  Their  value  consists 
not  only  in  disseminating  information  concerning  methods 
of  country  work,  but  in  getting  country  ministers  together, 
giving  them  new  visions,  renewing  their  courage,  and  filling 
their  hearts  with  new  hope. 

Practicing  What  We  Preach.  Simply  preaching 
about  rural  conditions,  setting  up  standards  of  efficiency, 
and  making  out  programs  would  have  little  effect  unless 
in  our  own  churches  we  made  an  honest  effort  to  practice 
what  we  preach.  In  this  effort  more  than  fifty  "Demonstra- 
tion Parishes,"  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Warren  H. 
Wilson,  have  been  established  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
Each  one  has  a  resident  minister  on  full  time.  As  rapidly 
as  possible  each  one  is  being  equipped  with  a  building 
suited  to  its  needs.  Here  is  an  example  of  one  such  demon- 
stration parish.     Four  years  ago  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Sterling 


^A  pamphlet  containing  this  score  card  by  which  you  may  grade 
your  own  church  may  be  had  for  five  cents  from  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


122  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Richardson  were  sent  to  the  Corinth  Church,  five  miles  from 
Allen,  Texas.  The  total  membership  of  the  church  at  that 
time  was  thirty-eight.  There  was  no  other  Protestant 
church  in  the  community.  The  yearly  budget  of  the  church 
was  between  two  and  three  hundred  dollars.  Preaching  was 
held  but  once  a  month  by  an  absentee  preacher.  The  con- 
gregation was  divided  into  factions.  When  Mr.  Richardson 
went  to  preach  his  first  sermon  not  a  soul  showed  up  at  the 
service.  Everyone  had  gone  to  a  "singing"  in  a  neighboring 
village.  Interest  in  the  church  and  in  religious  matters 
generally  was  at  a  low  ebb.  The  oldtimers  had  been  mov- 
ing out  and  newcomers  had  taken  possession  of  the  land. 
Sixty-eight  per  cent  of  the  population  were  tenant  farmers. 
Community  spirit  and  pride  had  departed. 

A  community  of  this  sort  could  never  be  revived  by  a 
circuit-riding  preacher  who  came  but  once  a  month  to  preach 
a  sermon  and  then  left  the  community  for  another  month. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richardson  had  come  on  the  demonstration 
parish  plan  —  to  put  all  of  their  time  and  effort  and  prayers 
into  this  one  community.  There  was  no  house  for  them  to 
live  in  and  nothing  that  the  eye  could  see  nor  the  ear  could 
hear  that  could  possibly  make  the  church  attractive  for 
educated  young  people.  They  took  up  their  residence  in  an 
abandoned  schoolhouse.  In  this  schoolhouse  the  author 
visited  them  months  ago. 

"Why  did  you  come  to  this  out-of-the-way  place?"  he 
asked.    It  was  Mrs.  Richardson  who  answered. 

"My  husband  and  I  accepted  a  place  in  the  country  be- 
cause there  was  a  man  filled  with  the  love  of  humankind  and 
endowed  with  a  persuasive  tongue,  who  talked  to  us  so 
convincingly  of  the  needs  of  country  folk  that  we  felt  in- 
spired. Until  then  we  had  believed  with  most  people  that 
the  country  church  is  a  sort  of  ecclesiastical  crutch  on  which 
the  infirm  or  inefficient  minister  may  lean  in  his  declining 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  123 

days.  It  took  something  of  the  pioneer  spirit  to  give  us 
the  courage  to  effect  the  change  from  our  city  parish  to  this 
field." 

"What  was  your  first  impression  of  this  parish?"  She 
smiled  a  bit  ruefully. 

"I  remember  my  first  glimpse  of  the  place  that  was  to 
be  my  home.  The  house  was  this  old  abandoned  wooden 
school  building;  with  its  roof  swayed  like  the  back  of  a 
Texas  razorback  hog,  and  its  sharp  little  front  porch  for  all 
the  world  like  his  snout.  Coming  upon  it  suddenly  in  a 
head-high  forest  of  wild  sunflowers  and  cockleburs,  with 
its  two  doors  like  half-opened  eyes  dozing  in  the  sun,  I  was 
afraid  for  the  moment  to  move  a  step  farther  in  its  direc- 
tion. It  needed  only  to  give  a  'Whoof!'  to  make  me  take 
to  my  heels.  It  was  funny.  I  sat  down  on  the  ground  and 
laughed  at  it.  And  then  woman-like,  I  cried.  I  wept  for 
the  long-lost  bathtub;  for  smooth,  satiny  floors;  for  the 
joys  and  cleanliness  of  electricity  and  gas;  for  all  the 
creature  comforts.  I  wept  long,  after  the  manner  of  my 
kind.  And  when  I  raised  my  head  and  opened  my  eyes 
God  had  prepared  a  wonderful  surprise.  The  sun  had  set 
and  there  were  millions  of  stars,  so  close  it  seemed  I  could 
almost  reach  up  and  touch  them  with  my  hand.  A  soft  cool 
breeze  had  sprung  up,  filled  with  the  very  elixir  of  life  and 
joy.  A  mocking  bird  began  singing  —  did  you  ever  hear 
one  sing  at  night?  —  and  its  music  was  full  of  more  beauty 
than  ever  was  in  the  magic  of  Campanini's  baton.  Who 
cared  for  a  bath?  There  was  a  purling  brook  near  by. 
Who  longed  for  gas?  At  least  it  was  six  months  till  winter. 
Belasco  couldn't  have  imagined  a  greater  scene  than  I  had 
before  me,  and  there  was  my  orchestra  all  attuned.  There- 
upon, having  reached  the  happy  norm,  I  girded  my  loins 
and  went  forth  to  see  what  I  could  see  of  this  job." 

She  and  her  husband  went  straight  into  the  job  by  going 


124  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

straight  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  they  found  the 
people  wonderfully  kind.  For  the  first  time  in  many,  many 
years,  the  folks  found  what  it  was  to  have  a  minister  in 
sickness  and  sorrow.  No  matter  what  their  problems,  they 
found  in  him  a  reassurance  of  the  goodness  and  presence  of 
God,  and  gradually  they  began  to  knit  together,  man  and 
minister  —  people  and  God.  They  came  to  know  him  not 
simply  as  their  preacher  but  as  their  friend. 

Now  after  four  years  the  members  of  the  Corinth  church 
point  with  pride  to  certain  spiritual  and  visible  results. 
There  has  been  a  moral  clean-up.  Four  years  ago  prosti- 
tution flourished  openly.  To-day  it  is  gone.  Farm  ten- 
antry has  been  reduced  from  sixty-eight  per  cent  to  forty- 
nine  per  cent.  Of  course  other  factors  besides  the  Church 
contributed  to  this  end,  but  the  Church  was  an  important 
factor,  for  some  farm  owners  testified  that  they  would  not 
have  stayed  in  a  community  where  there  was  no  moral 
and  spiritual  training  for  their  young  people.  They  would 
have  followed  the  example  of  other  owners  who  had  moved 
away  in  order  to  have  these  advantages  for  their  children. 
The  tide  has  been  turned  in  favor  of  the  community.  A  good 
roads  club  has  been  formed  with  the  pastor  as  president. 
The  district  has  been  persuaded  to  vote  $50,000  for  pikes. 
Mrs.  Richardson  has  a  boys'  class  of  thirty  members  in 
the  Sunday  school.  The  young  people  of  the  church  have 
built  a  fence  around  the  minister's  garden  and  put  up  a 
garage  beside  his  house.  The  women  of  the  church  have 
organized  themselves  in  a  missionary  society  and  have  helped 
to  secure  new  chairs  for  the  church  and  an  automobile  for 
their  pastor.  The  budget  of  the  church  has  increased  to 
$1600  or  more,  and  the  attendance  in  fair  weather  is  around 
200.  In  spite  of  the  crop  failures  the  people  have  raised 
more  than  $5000  toward  a  new  church  building.  Mr. 
Richardson's  eyes  are  bright  when  he  talks  to  you  about  this 


IN    RURAL    COMMUNITIES  125 

building,  "It  is  going  to  be  the  finest  church  building  in 
all  this  section  of  Texas,''  he  says.  "It's  going  to  have  an 
auditorium,  and  a  social  room,  and  a  stage,  and  equipment 
for  educational  and  social  work.  And  when  that  is  built 
we  are  going  after  a  consolidated  school." 

When  every  Presbyterian  country  church  is  under  the 
leadership  of  such  a  resident  pastor,  investing  himself  in  the 
lives  of  the  men  and  women  and  children  of  his  parish, 
leading  the  forces  of  righteousnesss  against  the  powers  of 
isolation,  individualism,  and  social  stagnation,  a  new  day 
will  have  dawned  not  only  for  the  farmer  and  his  family 
but  for  this  nation  and  for  the  Kingdom. 

Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  Against  what  is  the  farmer's  spiritual  war? 

2.  What  distinguishes  the  task  of  the  Church  from  that 

of  other  social  agencies? 

3.  What  social  and  economic  changes  have  come  about 

in  the  rural  section  during  the  last  thirty  years? 

4.  How  far  has  the  Church   adapted  itself  to   these 

changes? 

5.  What  are  the  disadvantages  of  a  too  small  church? 

6.  What  training  has  the  average  country  pastor  had? 

7.  Discuss  the  circuit  system  in  detail.     Show  how  it 

affects  Sabbath-keeping;  wastes  energy;  neglects 
large  sections  entirely;  fails  to  present  an  adequate 
program  for  young  people  and  immigrants;  fails 
in  fairness  to  the  minister. 

8.  Why  is  the  rural  church  situation  important  to  the 

nation? 

9.  In  the  face  of  such  facts  what  is  the  manifest  present 

task  of  the  Church? 


126  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

10.  Sttidy  what  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  already  done. 

11.  What  is  the  Country  Life  Department's  program  for 

country  churches? 

12.  What  is  the  value  of  summer  schools  for  country 

ministers? 

13.  What  is  meant  by  a  "Demonstration  Parish"?     Il- 

lustrate. 

14.  How  may  the  efficiency  of  a  given  church  be  meas- 

ured? 

15.  Grade  your  own  church.    What  score  does  it  make? 

Remember  that  the  thirty-one  points  constitute  a 
minimum,  not  a  maximum  standard.  In  what  points 
is  your  church  weak?    What  can  you  do  about  it? 


CHAPTER   V 

AMONG   ALASKANS    AND    INDIANS 

(a)  Alaskans 

(b)  Indians 


ALASKA 

THE    CHALLENGE 
Of  the  Field 

f  The  entire  population  is  about  54,000,  more  than  1 
half  of  which  is  white.  Two  thirds  of  the  white  pop-  j 
ulation  is  composed  of  Swedish,  Norwegian,  Canadian,  . 
German,  Irish,  English,  and  a  small  representation  of  | 
a  few  other  stocks.  The  natives  are  divided  into  four , 
groups:  Eskimos,  Aleuts,  Thlingits,  and  Athabascans. I 

The   difRculties   of   travel  and   transportation    over^ 
this  vast  field  make  missionary  work  a  hazardous  un- 
dertaking.    At  certain  seasons  of  the  year  the  trails 
become  almost  impassable. 

The  seasonal  nature  of  many  districts  in  Alaska 
makes  the  army  of  migrant  laborers  relatively  large. 

The  very  great  preponderance  of  males  over  females 
in  the  population  creates  peculiar  problems.  In  igio 
there  were  five  times  as  many  white  men  as  white 
women  in  Alaska. 

There  are  relatively  few  churches  in  Alaska,  hun- 
dreds of  square  miles  being  without  a  chapel  or  meet- 
ing house. 

The  influenza  epidemic  has  brought  about  the  de- 
population of  certain  areas  and  villages.  This  scourge 
has  been  particularly  severe  among  the  natives. 

Certain  Protestant  mission  boards  have  been  forced 
to  retrench  even  in  the  face  of  important  needs. 

The  present  situation  demands  more  missionaries,  a 
broader  ministry,  and  a  more  generously  supported 
work  so  that  every  occupied  place  may  be  reached. 

New  Christian  hospitals  with  doctors  and  nurses 
are  particularly  needed. 

\  There  must  be  worked  out  in  the  near  future  a  sys-  ] 
I  tern  of  missionary  supervision  for  Alaska  so  that  a  i 
wise,  comprehensive,  and  noncompetitive  missionary 
program  may  be  established.  This  system  of  super-  1 
vision  will  also  be  a  great  boon  to  missionaries  now  \ 
working  at  lonely  mission  stations  where  they  rarely  ' 
I  see  a  white  face  and  seldom  get  news  from  the  outside 
world. 

American    Volume  —  Inter  church   Survey. 


ALASKA 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  the  Presby-\ 
terian  Church  is  striving  to  bring  to  the  Alaskans  the  1 
dynamic  of  the  Christian  religion  through  nine  white\ 
and  twelve  native  churches,  and  several  outstations. 
At  Point  Barrow,  the  most  northerly  mission  station 
in  the  world,  a  new  hospital  has  just  been  completed. 
It  is  the  only  hospital  within  a  radius  of  one  thousand 
miles. 

A  religious  and  medical  work  is  being  inaugurated 
at  Cape  Prince  of  Wales.  This  reaches  about  500 
natives  and  touches  also  the  increasing  hordes  on  the 
Siberian  shores,  just  fifty  miles  away. 

Through  the  Woman's  Board  a  splendid  school  is 
being  conducted  at  Sitka,  Alaska,  engaging  seventeen 
commissioned  workers,  and  enrolling  ninety-four  boys 
and  girls  in  day  school,  and  150  in  Sunday  school. 
A  medical  ministry  has  been  rendered  through  the 
Hydaburg  Cottage  Hospital,  at  Hydaburg,  and  the 
Klawock  Cottage  Hospital,  at  Bay  View.  These  two 
hospitals  served  1405  patients  last  year,  and  from 
them  2264  nursing  visits  were  made. 

It  is  a  noble  and  heroic  work  —  but  on  a  small  scale 
compared  with  the  efforts  of  the  United  States  to  se- 
cure the  wealth  of  this  great  counry.  If  we  are  Chris- 
tians first,  and  business  men  second,  we  will  develop 
the  human  and  spiritual  resources  of  Alaska  with  at 
least  as  much  zeal  as  we  put  into  the  development  of 
her  natural  resources. 


Chapter  V 

(fl)    ALASKANS 

To  anyone  who  writes  upon  Alaska  these  days  three 
stories  beckon.  The  first  is  the  story  of  the  adventures  of 
the  men  who  have  prospected  there  for  gold  and  copper  and 
silver  or  who  have  sought  their  fortunes  in  the  vast  fish- 
eries or  have  hunted  for  seal  and  bear  and  deer  in  that 
great  Empire  of  the  Northwest.  The  wealth  that  has  re- 
warded their  efforts,  in  spite  of  many  failures,  has  been 
greater  than  the  fondest  dreams  of  William  H.  Seward  who 
as  Secretary  of  State  persuaded  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  purchase  Alaska  from  Russia  in  1867.  The  price 
we  then  paid  was  $7,200,000.  Already  the  natural  resources 
of  the  territory  have  brought  to  this  country  more  than 
$1,000,000,000. 

The  second  story  is  a  dark  story.  It  is  the  story  of  the 
misdeeds  of  the  men  who  sought  their  fortunes  in  the  terri- 
tory. They  left  behind  them  a  trail  of  vile  diseases,  of 
drunkenness,  of  immorality.  The  trail  lives  after  them.  It 
is  registered  in  the  faces  of  many  of  the  natives ;  worse  than 
that,  it  is  in  their  very  blood  and  day  after  day  its  tragic 
consequences  are  seen  in  stillbirths,  insanity,  and  loathsome 
sores.  It  is  a  trail  that  all  decent  men  regard  with  shame, 
and  want  to  eradicate  from  America's  history. 

The  third  story  is  more  appealing.  It  is  the  story  of  the 
constructive  work  of  the  men  and  women  who  have  given 
their  lives  to  bring  to  the  people  of  Alaska  the  best  that 
America  has  —  education,  social  service,  and  the  Christian 

130 


ALASKANS  131 

religion.  Presbyterians  were  the  first  to  volunteer  for  this 
work  and  what  they  have  done  is  a  thing  of  which  the  na- 
tion as  well  as  the  Church  may  be  proud. 
/'  The  Story  of  Sheldon  Jackson.  It  was  Dr.  Sheldon 
Jackson  who  established  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Alaska. 
He  was  a  man  of  tremendous  energy,  undaunted 
courage,  broad  sympathy,  and  statesman-like  vision.  His 
first  trip  to  Alaska  was  made  a  few  years  after  the  purchase 
of  the  territory.  He  underwent  shipwreck,  exposure,  sick- 
ness, and  trials  of  a  hundred  kinds.  But  he  also  organized 
churches,  established  schools,  and  located  doctors.  At  the 
same  time  he  studied  the  naturaj  resources  of  the  territory 
and  kept  the  Government  at  Washington  informed  of  his 
results.  Becoming  convinced  that  the  economic  and  social 
development  of  the  country  waited  upon  a  greater  food 
supply  and  better  transportation  facilities  he  persuaded  the 
government  to  make  experiments  introducing  the  reindeer, 
an  animal  that  serves  as  substitute  for  the  cow,  sheep,  and 
horse,  for  it  provides  meat,  milk,  clothing,  and  transporta- 
tion. The  failure  of  one  or  two  of  these  experiments  called 
down  upon  his  head  the  anger  of  political  enemies  of  the  ad- 
ministration and  he  was  nicknamed  "Shell-Game"  Jackson. 
But  in  the  end  the  experiments  succeeded  and  the  few  hun- 
dred reindeer  originally  introduced  have  now  multiplied  until 
they  number  nearly  200,000  and  constitute  one  of  Alaska's 
greatest  economic  assets. 

Educational  Work.  The  educational  policy  Dr.  Jack- 
son founded  in  Alaska  was  as  farsighted  as  his  economic 
policy.  Finding  no  schools,  the  Presbyterian  Church,  under 
his  leadership,  established  them  side  by  side  with  its 
missions,  and  always  with  the  understanding  that  as  soon  as 
the  Government  was  prepared  to  take  over  the  schools  as 
part  of  the  territorial  system,  the  Church  would  relinquish 
them.    The  breadth  of  this  policy  and  the  excellence  of  the 


132  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

schools  established  soon  resulted  in  Dr.  Jackson's  appoint- 
ment as  Government  Agent  for  Education  in  Alaska.  It  also 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Sheldon  Jackson  School 
at  Sitka. 

The  Sheldon  Jackson  School.  It  was  first  opened  in 
1880  as  a  mission  day  school,  but  as  the  years  went  by  in 
its  attempt  to  meet  the  actual  educational  needs  of  the 
young  people  of  Alaska,  it  developed  into  a  boarding  school. 
In  1909  the  school  was  thoroughly  equipped  for  industrial 
and  academic  work  and  named  in  honor  of  Dr.  Jackson, 
"pioneer  organizer  and  missionary  by  whose  foresight  and 
missionary  zeal  a  large  tract  of  land  comprising  the  school's 
property  had  been  secured  and  through  whose  untiring 
efforts  and  wholesome  enthusiasm  the  buildings  had  been 
erected,  the  equipment  furnished,  and  the  work  maintained." 
Since  then  the  school  plant  has  grown  until  to-day  it  com- 
prises four  dormitories,  a  school  building  containing  a  gym- 
nasium, and  a  central  heating  plant,  with  steam  laundry 
attached.  There  is  also  an  industrial  building  containing 
machinery  and  carpenter  shop,  a  hydro-electric  power  plant, 
and  a  print  shop.  Beside  these  buildings  there  is  a  museum, 
and  three  cottages  for  the  families  of  the  married  workers. 
The  school  is  filled  to  its  capacity  with  students  repre- 
senting more  than  twenty  communities  of  southeastern 
Alaska. 

The  Aim  of  the  School  is  "to  build  up  strong,  sound 
bodies;  to  train  girls  in  the  art  of  Christian  home-making, 
and  boys  as  competent  wage  earners;  and  to  develop 
Christian  leadership."  The  course  of  study  takes  the  stu- 
dents from  the  first  grade  through  the  high  school.  The  girls 
are  taught  sewing,  cooking,  laundry,  and  other  housework. 
The  boys  are  trained  for  steam  fitting  and  for  work  in 
machine  shops,  carpenter  shops,  and  printing  shops,  and 
above  all  and  through  all  is  the  spiritual  training.    To  train 


o 


(U 


13 
O 

3 
O 


3 


-:4 


C/3 


O 

o 

-!:3 


o 


C1K3LI 


ALASKANS  133 

the  head  and  the  hand  without  training  the  heart  and  the 
^irit  would  not  be  true  to  our  ideals  of  Christian  education. 
For  the  first  aim  of  Christian  education  is  to  develop  char- 
acter, and  the  Sheldon  Jackson  School  stands  first  of  all  for 
such  development. 

During  the  summer  months  the  older  students  go  out  into 
salmon  canneries  or  on  the  fishing  boats  which  supply  the 
canneries.  The  younger  students  remain  at  the  school  for 
a  summer  course  of  study  which  is  enlivened  by  camping, 
picnics,  and  other  activities  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the 
boys  and  girls  and  to  maintain  their  health. 

Results.  Now  after  eleven  years  of  such  training  under 
the  revised  curriculum  the  workers  in  the  school  point  to 
the  fact  that  the  great  majority  of  leaders  in  patriotic  and 
civic  enterprises  in  all  of  the  native  villages  of  southeastern 
Alaska  were  at  one  time  students  in  the  Sheldon  Jackson 
School.  The  characters  they  have  developed  and  the  knowl- 
edge they  have  acquired  have  won  them  the  confidence  of 
their  own  people  and  they  are  being  elected  to  the  responsi- 
ble offices  in  the  newly  organized  government  of  their  local 
communities. 

A  Revolting  Custom  Is  Being  Eliminated.  One  of 
the  best  results  of  the  school  is  its  influence  in  combating 
the  primitive  custom  of  selling  young  women  in  marriage. 
The  revolting  custom  is  surely  being  eliminated  —  but  not 
without  difficulty.  Superintendent  McKean  thus  describes 
the  struggle: 

The  cannery  life  is  only  one  of  our  difficulties  at  present. 
One  large  girl  who  did  not  return  had  been  here  for  three 
years,  summer  and  winter.  Her  people  wanted  her  to  take 
care  of  the  children  during  the  summer,  at  least  that  is  the 
way  they  put  the  matter  up  to  us,  and  there  was  no  way  that 
we  could  hold  her  against  their  wish.  What  she  found 
when  she  reached  home  was  that  a  marriage  was  all  arranged 
for  her  and  although  she  wanted  to  return  to  school  and 


134  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

bring  two  other  members  of  the  family  with  her,  she  was 
forced  to  marry  a  man  for  whom  she  had  no  regard  what- 
ever. The  girl  was  just  sixteen  years  old.  When  another 
pupil  reached  her  home  she  found  the  man  whom  her 
parents  planned  for  her  to  marry,  right  at  her  home  with 
her  parents,  waiting  for  her.  The  girl  rebelled  but  the 
man  stayed  until  her  parents  had  succeeded  in  forcing  her 
to  do  as  they  wished.  One  of  the  discouraging  features  of 
the  work  here  is  that  of  having  girls  remain  at  the  school 
until  they  reach  maturity  and  then  to  be  taken  away  by 
parents  or  relatives  and  forced  into  marriage.  The  old  cus- 
tom of  selling  daughters  into  matrimony  as  soon  as  they 
approach  maturity  is  gradually  giving  way,  but  old  customs 
die  exceedingly  hard.  The  uncle  of  one  of  our  girls  had  a 
marriage  all  planned  for  her  and  money  had  already  been 
paid  to  him  by  the  man  to  whom  he  intended  to  sell  his 
niece.  The  girl's  sister  is  also  one  of  our  pupils,  a  high- 
school  pupil  who  had  passed  the  examination  for  citizenship 
and  she  knew  that  her  sister  did  not  have  to  submit.  With 
their  combined  earnings  last  summer  these  girls  paid  back 
to  the  man  the  amount  he  had  given  to  the  uncle  and  both 
girls  returned  to  school  last  fall. 

The  Most  Northerly  Mission  Station  in  the  World. 
A  Lieutenant  Commander  of  the  United  States  Navy  re- 
ported to  Dr.  Jackson  in  the  fall  of  1882  the  degraded  con- 
ditions of  the  Eskimos  in  Northern  Alaska.  Dr.  Jackson 
enlisted  the  cooperation  of  the  United  States  Commissioner 
of  Education  in  a  plan  of  establishing  schools  in  this  section 
under  the  supervision  of  well-known  missionary  organiza- 
tions. Various  denominations  were  appealed  to,  but  owing 
to  their  impoverished  treasuries  no  one  could  help.  In  this 
emergency  Dr.  Jackson  appealed  to  Mrs.  Elliot  F.  Shepard, 
who  agreed  to  provide  the  money  for  a  mission  school  and 
station  at  Point  Barrow,  if  the  Woman's  Board  of  Home 
Missions  would  undertake  the  oversight.  This  offer  was 
accepted  and  for  many  years  Mrs.  Shepard  continued  to 
furnish  the  salary  of  the  missionary  at  this  station. 


ALASKANS  135 

In  the  spring  of  1890  a  call  was  sent  out  for  a  missionary 
to  volunteer  for  service  at  Point  Barrow,  a  call  which  em- 
phasized the  privations  that  must  be  endured  and  the 
perils  encountered.  Professor  L.  M.  Stevenson  answered 
and  in  July  of  that  year  he  "was  landed  with  his  supplies 
and  left  alone  to  begin  his  work.  In  this  dreary  and  deso- 
late place,  which  is  farther  north  than  the  North  Cape  in 
Europe;  where  the  long  Arctic  day  and  night  were  each 
nearly  three  months  long;  where  the  outlook  on  the  sea- 
ward side  both  summer  and  winter  was  a  perpetual  ice  field, 
stretching  northward  toward  the  pole;  where  in  the  autumn 
and  spring  great  whales  sported  before  his  front  door  and 
in  the  winter  polar  bears  prowled  around  his  cabin,  this 
courageous  herald  of  a  higher  civilization  and  a  better  life 
gathered  the  children  and  older  people  together  and  gave 
them  their  first  lessons  in  the  English  language  and  the 
elementary  branches  of  human  knowledge."  ^ 

Point  Barrow  To-Day.  Thirty  years  have  passed 
since  Professor  Stevenson  opened  this  most  northerly  mis- 
sion in  the  world.  The  school  is  now  a  Government  insti- 
tution and  the  Church  is  devoting  itself  to  a  spiritual  and 
medical  ministry  and  to  another  and  much  needed  service 
—  the  establishment  of  a  hospital.  There  are  two  church 
buildings,  twelve  miles  apart.  In  both  of  them  services  are 
held  every  Sunday  of  the  year  —  even  when  the  tempera- 
ture is  30°  below  zero  and  there  is  no  fuel.  Prayer  meet- 
ing is  held  every  Wednesday  evening  and  Intermediate  and 
Junior  Christian  Endeavor  every  Wednesday  afternoon. 
All  of  them  are  attended  by  all  the  people  in  the  village 
except  the  sick.  Dr.  Spence  writes  this  account:  "Nearly 
the  usual  number  of  people  were  here  on  Easter  but  they 
were  much  later  coming  in  than  usual,  many  not  reaching 
the  village  until  a  day  or  so  before.  Only  one  joined  the 
^  Stewart,  Sheldon  Jackson. 


136  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Church  this  year  because  everyone  who  could  had  already 
joined.  There  were  only  nine  baptisms  this  year,  the 
smallest  number  since  we  came.  This  was  due  to  the 
large  number  of  stillbirths  and  a  few  being  away  at  Easter." 

The  New  Hospital.  One  of  the  most  important  pieces 
of  social  service  which  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  under- 
taken, is  the  establishment  of  a  hospital  at  Point  Barrow. 
It  is  the  most  northerly  hospital  in  the  world.  It  is  the  only 
hospital  within  a  radius  of  a  thousand  miles.  It  is  the 
fruit  of  the  missionaries'  efforts,  and  especially  of  the  past 
five  years  of  heroic  work  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  H.  Spence, 
who  have  put  the  best  of  their  fine  training  and  Christian 
characters  into  the  task.  It  will  serve  more  than  a  thousand 
human  beings. 

The  need  of  the  hospital  is  seen  in  these  conditions:  The 
Eskimos  live  in  igloos  of  one  small  room  each,  two  or  more 
families  to  an  igloo.  There  is  little  light  and  less  ventila- 
tion. When  you  remember  that  in  almost  every  igloo  from 
one  to  many  have  died  of  tuberculosis  (it  was  the  white  man 
that  brought  the  germs),  and  children  are  being  born  and 
brought  up  in  close  proximity  to  people  who  are  now  sick 
with  tuberculosis,  you  can  understand  why  so  many  Eskimos 
are  dying  with  that  dread  disease.  Moreover,  as  Dr.  Spence 
writes:  "Since  the  white  man  came  to  this  northland  he  has 
exploited  the  native.  He  began  by  ravaging  their  women, 
transmitting  through  them  a  disease  far  more  dreadful  in 
its  results  to  posterity  than  tuberculosis,  both  being  in- 
tensified and  much  harder  to  cure  when  combined.  Many 
have  been  and  are  the  women  with  loathsome  sores;  far 
too  many  are  stillbirths;  far  too  many  are  the  number  of 
incompetents.  One  child  born  this  year  was  without  the  top 
of  his  head.  One  woman  has  had  two  children,  both  of 
them  losing  their  minds  in  early  childhood.  There 
are  too  many  blind  people  here  for  the  number  of  ihhabi- 


ALASKANS  137 

tants.  One  little  girl  now  only  four  years  old,  is  afflicted 
with  the  same  trouble  and  likely  to  lose  her  sight.  One  boy 
at  the  Point  is  paralyzed  and  helpless  from  the  same  cause. 
When  you  see  all  these  things  it  makes  your  heart  ache 
and  I  cannot  tell  it  all." 

To  these  conditions  must  be  added  the  ignorance  of  the 
people  as  the  greatest  handicap  to  any  sort  of  treatment, 
medical  or  surgical,  in  their  igloos.  Their  ignorance  is 
appalling ;  they  are  only  thirty  years  removed  from  heathen- 
ism. A  hospital  is  an  absolute  essential,  not  only  for  effec- 
tive medical  work  but  for  the  very  salvation  of  these  people 
from  extinction.  We  Americans  are  more  or  less  informed 
of  the  wonderful  work  of  Dr.  Grenfell  for  Labrador,  a 
thousand  miles  farther  south  than  Barrow.  But  here  is  a 
place  even  more  remote  and  neglected,  and  until  now  no 
hospitals  or  nurses  within  a  thousand  miles.  Surely  if  the 
people  of  Labrador  needed  medical  or  surgical  help  these 
people  need  it  more.  They  are  worthy  people.  The  world 
depends  upon  them,  and  them  alone,  to  make  available  the 
vast  resources  of  copper  and  oil  of  northern  Alaska.  No 
other  race  can  stand  the  cold.  The  late  Archdeacon  Stuck 
said  of  them:  "There  cannot  be  anywhere  else  such  brave 
and  resolute  and  light-hearted  folk  in  such  an  utterly 
barren  and  naked  land,  pitting  themselves  against  such 
ferocity  of  wind  and  cold." 

Recognizing  this  need  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  under- 
taken the  task  of  establishing  the  hospital,  the  funds  being 
generously  provided  by  the  Commonwealth  Fund  of  New- 
York  City.  The  hospital  was  designed  by  D.  Everett  Waid, 
who  contributed  his  services  for  the  good  of  the  cause. 
Last  spring  the  materials  for  it  were  assembled  at  Seattle. 
In  July  it  was  put  on  shipboard  and  after  various  experiences 
it  finally  reached  Point  Barrow  in  August.  Fortunate!  for 
this  is  the  first  year  in  three  that  the  U.S.S.  Bear  has  been 


138  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

able  to  get  that  far  north.  When  completed  the  hospital 
will  represent  an  investment  of  about  $50,000. 

Just  in  Time.  The  hospital  is  arriving  just  in  time  to 
give  first  aid  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Spence  themselves.  Five 
years  of  unremitting  labor,  the  ignorance  of  the  people,  the 
penetrating  cold,  the  dearth  of  fuel  and  of  the  conveniences 
of  civilized  life,  the  lack  of  sympathetic  contact  with  their 
own  kind,  have  all  but  broken  these  brave  workers.  We 
think  we  have  troubles  when  coal  is  $15  to  $20  a  ton  and 
hard  to  get,  but  at  Point  Barrow  the  net  cost  of  coal  is  nearly 
$100  a  ton,  due  to  the  enormous  freight  rates  from  Seattle, 
where  it  is  necessary  to  go  for  the  main  part  of  the  supply. 
Even  at  this  rate  good  coal  is  obtainable  only  in  case  the 
ocean  is  free  from  ice  long  enough  for  a  vessel  to  get  to 
this  suburb  of  the  north  pole.  Shipping  space  is  also  diffi- 
cult to  secure  and  to  do  more  effective  work  the  rrission 
should  have  its  own  boat,  as  do  the  Methodist  Missions  in 
Northwest  Alaska.  When  the  thermometer  gets  as  high  as 
25°  below  zero,  Dr.  Spence  shuts  off  the  furnace  in  his 
house  and  the  family  exists  by  kitchen  fire. 

But  this  year  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Spence  have  had  unusual 
difficulties.  He  writes:  "In  many  ways  the  year  has  been 
the  hardest  one  since  we  came.  We  do  not  refer  to  the  lack 
of  coal.  All  the  services  have  been  kept  up  in  the  church 
with  little  or  no  fire,  most  of  the  time  none  at  all,  but  they 
were  all  attended  by  everyone  in  the  village.  The  ther- 
mometer was  most  of  the  time  at  or  near  25°  below  zero 
and  sometimes  lower.  The  breath  of  the  people  would 
form  a  white  vapor  in  the  church.  Had  only  one  fire  at 
the  mission  all  winter  and  the  one  room  was  kitchen,  dining 
room,  bedroom,  living  room,  office  room,  drug  room,  sur- 
gery room,  and  dispensary.  These,  however,  are  only  minor 
difficulties  and  are  easily  endured.  It  is  in  the  spiritual 
work  that  the  strain  lies. 


ALASKANS  139 

"Because  of  some  of  the  things  we  have  been  through 
this  year  the  health  of  Mrs.  Spence  and  myself  is  very  much 
impaired.  The  last  of  May  I  suffered  from  what  at  the 
time  I  supposed  was  a  slight  attack  of  snow  blindness  in 
my  right  eye  but  I  found  it  was  some  serious  trouble  and 
that  I  had  a  much  more  serious  condition  in  the  left  eye. 
Mrs.  Spence  is  needing  the  care  of  an  oculist  and  a  dentist 
so  we  are  hoping  the  way  will  open  for  our  going  out. 

"The  thing  that  embarrasses  us  is  our  request  a  year  ago 
to  remain,  but  at  that  time  we  were  in  fairly  good  health 
and  knew  nothing  of  what  the  year  had  in  store  for  us." 

As  this  book  is  written  these  missionaries  are  being  re- 
lieved. The  Home  Board  is  looking  now  for  a  new  doctor, 
with  sufficient  courage  and  skill  and  consecration  to  take 
Dr.  Spence's  place. 

The  Unfinished  Task  in  Alaska.  These  bits  of  his- 
tory and  description  of  Presbyterian  effort  in  Alaska  are 
only  bits.  If  the  whole  story  could  be  told  it  would  include 
the  heroism  and  consecration  that  have  been  invested  in  the 
hospital  at  Sitka,  the  boarding  schools  at  Chilkat,  Wrangell, 
Hyda,  and  Juneau,  and  in  the  nine  white  and  twelve  native 
churches  and  the  several  outstations.  Slowly  but  surely 
these  hospitals,  schools,  and  churches  have  been  inculcating 
in  the  whites,  the  Indians,  and  Eskimos  the  higher  ideals 
of  the  Christian  religion,  in  education,  health,  and  brother- 
hood. And  all  the  while  they  have  been  drawing  the  people 
closer  to  God.  The  Thlingits  and  Hydas  of  southeastern 
Alaska  can  now  be  called  Christian  people.  They  have 
left  their  paganism  and  heathen  customs,  and  the  younger 
generation  at  least  no  longer  holds  to  the  superstitions  that 
held  these  tribes  in  a  bondage  of  fear. 

But  what  has  been  done  is  only  a  foundation  for  what 
remains.  Remember  that  the  natives  throughout  Alaska 
are  only  thirty  years  removed  from  paganism,  that  many 


140  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

communities  are  yet  untouched  by  Christian  effort,  and 
that  many  missions  stand  vacant  for  want  of  men  and  money 
to  man  them.  The  Congregational  Church  has  turned  over 
to  us  the  important  and  successful  mission  at  Cape  Prince 
of  Wales  on  Bering  Strait.  We  have  just  sent  Dr.  W.  H. 
Greist,  an  experienced  and  devoted  medical  missionary,  to 
take  charge  of  it.  A  large  number  of  Indians,  heathen  and 
living  in  their  primitive  state  in  the  great  Kuskuquim  Valley, 
have  recently  been  reported.  Many  Eskimo  villages  are 
without  any  religious  work. 

Moreover,  there  have  been  rumors  that  the  political 
government  of  Alaska  needs  a  house-cleaning,  and  is  about 
to  get  it.  Dan  Sutherland,  the  man  who,  when  Alaska  went 
dry  by  referendum  in  191 6,  journeyed  at  his  own  expense 
to  Washington  and  put  through  Congress  a  law  making  pro- 
hibition effective  in  the  territory,  has  been  elected  Alaska's 
representative  in  Congress.  A  new  code  of  laws  designed 
to  untangle  the  web  of  bureaucratic  statutes,  and  cut  the 
bonds  that  fetter  Alaska,  has  been  prepared  and  will  prob- 
ably be  presented  to  the  next  Congress. 

These  things  are  mentioned  here  not  because  they  are 
matters  for  the  immediate  concern  of  the  Church  as  an  or- 
ganization, but  because  if  they  come  to  pass  they  will  have 
much  to  do  with  bringing  into  the  territory  a  new  flood  of 
population  and  it  is  the  concern  of  the  Church  that  the 
religious  needs  of  this  new  population  be  provided  for, 
and  that  never  again  may  Alaska  be  cursed  with  such  a 
trail  of  immorality  and  vice  as  has  been  left  by  previous 
expeditions.  All  who  have  studied  this  land  are  convinced 
of  its  greatness.  It  is  a  land  of  opportunity.  It  would  be 
an  everlasting  disgrace  to  America  if  we  developed  the 
natural  resources  of  the  land  and  left  the  spiritual  resources 
of  its   54,000  human  beings  undeveloped. 


ALASKANS  141 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  When  was  Alaska  purchased?     Of  what  country? 

At  what  price?     Through  whose  influence? 

2.  Look  up  its  size,  climate,  and  population. 

3.  What  are  its  natural  resources?     How  valuable? 

4.  What  types  of  white  men  have  gone  into  Alaska? 

5.  Who  was  Sheldon  Jackson?     Why  did  he  introduce 

reindeer  into  Alaska?    How  did  he  come  to  be  ap- 
pointed Government  agent  for  education  in  Alaska? 

6.  Describe  the  Sheldon  Jackson  School.    What  was  its 

object?    How  far  has  it  been  successful? 

7.  Describe  Point  Barrow.     When  was  mission  work 

started    there?      Through    whom    indirectly    and 
directly? 

8.  What  is  the  Point  Barrow  situation  to-day? 

9.  Make  a  list  of  the  hardships  the  Point  Barrow  mis- 

sionaries have  faced. 

10.  What  remains  to  be  done  in  Alaska  in  education;  in 
evangelistic  work;  in  Americanization;  in  health 
and  hygiene? 


INDIANS 

THE    CHALLENGE 
0£  the  Field 

The  total  number  of  Indians  in  the  continental 
United  States  is  approximately  334>ooo.  They  are 
divided  into  tribal  bands  and  clans  exceeding  150  in 
number,  all  speaking  different  languages  and  dialects 
and  scattered  on  147  reservations  and  in  different 
communities  in  practically  every  state  of  the  Union. 

The  Indian  of  the  old  trail  was  a  religious  being. 
The  very  perils  and  hardships  of  the  chase  and  war- 
path created  in  him  a  longing  for  some  relationship 
with  the  unseen  world  of  mystery  about  him. 

But  the  old  Indian  has  passed  on,  leaving  behind 
chieffy  such  vestiges  of  the  old  regime  as  war  paint 
and  feathers,  bow  and  arrow,  blanket  and  moccasin. 

The  Indian  of  to-day  is  just  coming  into  citizenship. 
He  must  meet  the  demands  of  this  new  transition  pe- 
riod. He  has  entered  upon  the  highway  of  knowl- 
edge and  cannot  turn  back  to  the  old  trails. 

Less  than  one  third  of  the  Indian  population  is 
related  to  the  various  Christian  communions;  ap- 
proximately 46,000  are  neglected  by  Christian  agen- 
cies and  unreached  by  Roman  Catholic  or  Protestant 
missionaries. 

Nine  thousand  Indian  youths  heard  their  country's 
call  in  the  late  war  and  left  their  tribal  clans  to  Bght 
for  liberty.     Six  thousand  were  volunteers. 

American    Volume  —  Interchurch   Survey. 


INDIANS 

THE    ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Through  the  Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions 
the  Church  conducts  educational  work  by  means  of 
boarding  schools  at  Marble  City,  Oklahoma;  Ganado 
and  Tucson,  Arizona;  Wolf  Point,  Montana;  and 
North  Fork,  California;  and  day  schools  at  Indian 
Oasis  and  Vah-ki.  Thirty-£ve  commissioned  workers 
are  engaged  in  these  schools.  Their  total  enrollment 
last  year  was  420  and  they  taught  also  415  pupils  in 
Sunday  school.  Community  stations  are  conducted 
at  Lapwai,  Idaho,  and  Neah  Bay,  Washington.  .A 
medical  ministry  is  carried  on  through  the  hospital 
at  Ganado,  Arizona,  and  the  hospital  at  Indian  Wells. 
These  two  hospitals  last  year  engaged  forty-three 
commissioned  workers  and  ministered  to  1320  pa- 
tients. 

Through  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  religious  and 
educational  work  is  carried  on  in  nineteen  states 
among  fifty  different  tribes,  ranging  from  the  Da- 
kotas,  who  are  four  fifths  Christian,  to  the  nearly 
heathen  Papagoes.  During  the  past  year  two  hun- 
dred churches  and  preaching  stations  have  been  cared 
for,  by  sixty-six  ordained  ministers,  thirty-Sve  unor- 
dained  white  preachers,  and  thirty-five  native  helpers. 
This  Board  also  maintains  hospitals  and  Bible  training 
schools  at  Phoenix,  Arizona;  Santee,  Nebraska;  and 
Lapwai,  Idaho. 

It  is  excellent  work  —  but  at  this  rate  how  long  will 
it  take  us  to  Christianize  the  12,000,000  Indians  in 
North,  South,  and  Central  America.^ 


{b)    INDIANS 

Why  the  Task  Is  Difficult.  No  work  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  America  is  more  difficult  than  that  among 
the  Indians.  The  chief  reason  for  its  difficulty  is  the  white 
man's  record  among  the  Indians.  We  began  by  selling  the 
Indian  fire  water;  then  we  took  away  his  land;  next  we 
crowded  him  on  to  reservations ;  finally  we  sent  our  mission- 
aries to  him  to  convert  him  to  our  religion!  If  the  cases 
were  reversed  and  the  Indians  were  the  lords  of  the  land 
and  we  were  upon  reservations,  they  would  probably  find 
missionary  work  among  us  just  as  difficult.  The  fact  does 
not  excuse  us  from  making  the  effort;  on  the  contrary  it  is 
an  added  reason  why  after  such  treatment  the  white  race 
should  now  be  anxious  to  see  that  the  Indian  receives 
justice  and  the  best  rather  than  the  worst  that  civilization 
has  to  offer  him.  That  best  is  our  religion,  our  education, 
and  all  that  we  know  about  industry,  farming,  the  science 
of  health,  and  the  art  of  home-making. 

The  Indian  of  To-Day.  He  is  not  the  same  being  that 
Longfellow  exalted  in  ^'Hiawatha,"  or  Cooper  in  "Leather- 
stocking  Tales."  The  Indian  of  those  stories  was  primarily 
a  religious  being.  "The  very  perils  and  hardships  of  the 
chase  and  warpath  created  in  him  a  longing  for  some  re- 
lationship with  the  unseen  but  apparent  world  of  mystery 
round  about  him.'*  But  the  Indian  of  to-day  is  another 
being.  The  chase  and  the  warpath  are  gone.  Neither  in 
muscle  nor  stature  is  the  average  red  man  anything  like 
his  ancestors.  White  man's  whisky  and  white  man's  dis- 
eases, chiefly  tuberculosis,  have  played  their  havoc  with  the 

144 


INDIANS  145 

red  man's  body.  A  drug  —  peyote  or  mescal  —  worse  in 
its  effects  than  alcohol  or  opium,  has  ruined  the  minds  and 
nervous  systems  of  many  of  his  fellows.  His  home  to-day 
is  a  small  shack  practically  without  ventilation.  And  his 
religion  has  degenerated  even  more  than  his  body  and  his 
home.  Abandoning  his  nature  worship  and  his  paganism, 
he  has  put  nothing  better  in  their  places. 

The  Task  as  a  Whole.  The  task  of  Christian  America 
is,  then,  to  redeem  the  Indians,  physically,  mentally,  mor- 
ally, and  spiritually.  There  are  in  this  country  334,000 
of  this  race.  Only  120,000  of  them  speak  English.  Only 
79,000  are  citizens.  Only  26,000  are  voters.  Less  than 
one  half  of  the  Indian  population  is  related  to  the  various 
Christian  communions.  We  must  win  the  rest.  We  must 
lead  them  all  step  by  step  and  man  by  man  out  of  their 
ignorance  and  degradation  into  fellowship  with  God.  We 
must  develop  a  native  Christian  leadership.  We  must  hold 
the  young  people  who  come  back  from  school  and  see  that 
they  do  not  lapse  into  their  former  state,  but  consecrate 
their  education  to  the  good  of  their  less  fortunate  fellows. 
We  must  replace  the  superstitions  of  the  old  medicine  men 
with  the  best  that  modern  medical  skill  can  do  to  heal  their 
diseases  and  to  build  up  their  health. 

An  Example  of  Constructive  Evangelical  and 
Social  Work  Among  Indians.  Fifty  years  ago  Dr. 
Charles  H.  Cook  might  have  been  arrested  for  having  no 
visible  means  of  support,  for  he  started  his  work  on  the 
Pima  Reservation  with  nothing  at  all  except  a  boundless 
faith  in  God  and  human  nature.  He  had  no  salary  and  no 
material  equipment.  He  had  read  an  article  by  an  army 
officer  depicting  the  needs  of  the  Pima  Indians  of  Arizona, 
and  appealing  for  missionaries  to  come  and  help  them. 
Unable  to  find  any  Board  or  Church  that  could  send  him, 
Dr.  Cook  had  struck  out  "on  his  own."    He  had  journeyed 


146  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

part  way  by  train,  and  the  rest  of  the  way  on  foot  and  by 
mule  and  by  ox  train.  Four  months  it  took  him  to  reach 
the  Pima  agency.  There  in  the  fullness  of  time  he  received 
an  appointment  as  a  Government  teacher,  and  then  he  went 
to  work  in  earnest. 

He  soon  found  that  he  had  before  him  not  only  the 
task  of  bringing  the  Indian  into  fellowship  with  God  in 
the  Christian  way,  but  he  must  needs  fight  against  the 
white  men  who  were  encroaching  upon  the  Indians'  lands 
and  especially  upon  their  water  rights  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  Indians  would  have  starved  to  death  if  they  had 
not  had  his  strong  leadership.  Dr.  Charles  L.  Thompson 
describes  the  struggle: 

The  white  man  came  to  the  borders  of  the  reservation 
and  the  Indian  as  always  must  suffer.  Settlers  on  the  banks 
of  the  Gila  River  above  the  reservation  in  ditch  after  ditch 
took  off  its  waters  until  almost  none  was  left  for  those 
Indians  who  had  always  been  self-supporting  and  self- 
respecting  ;  whose  lives  had  been  lives  of  peace  and  industry ; 
who  had  stood  with  the  Government  against  the  Apaches  in 
time  of  war,  and  who  had  every  claim  on  the  Government 
for  protection  from  the  ravages  of  the  incoming  white  popu- 
lation. 

The  soul  of  Dr.  Cook  was  stirred  to  vigorous  action.  He 
appealed  to  mission  Boards,  to  churches,  and  to  the  Govern- 
ment to  save  his  people.  It  was  a  long,  hard  fight  with 
robbers  who  had  stolen  the  waters  which  alone  make  pos- 
sible the  very  existence  of  the  Indian.  But  they  had  a  man 
to  deal  with  who  counted  on  the  reserves  of  the  Almighty. 
And  in  good  measure  he  was  permitted  to  see  the  victory 
before  he  laid  down  his  armor. 

Fifty  years  have  passed  since  that  heroic  beginning. 
Dr.  Cook  has  been  called  to  his  reward,  and  Rev.  Dirk  Lay, 
a  stalwart  young  giant  with  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  true 
prophet,  has  taken  up  his  work.    To-day  twelve  churches 


11 


— < 

o 

■!-> 

to 

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C2 

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o 

<u 

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G 

to 

rt 

G 

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O 

l-i 

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nS 

-14 

u 


INDIANS  147 

with  a  membership  of  2000,  and  with  a  Sunday-school  en- 
rollment of  more  than  2000,  are  visible  results  of  the  mis- 
sionaries' efforts.  The  small  mission  Dr.  Cook  built  has 
been  supplanted  by  a  magnificent  stucco  building  erected  by 
the  Indians  themselves.  At  the  fifteenth  anniversary  serv- 
ice held  a  few  months  ago,  600  Pimas  crowded  this  build- 
ing, and  one  of  them,  Edward  Jackson,  twenty-seven  years 
a  native  helper,  was  ordained  a  minister,  and  conducted  the 
Communion  service  with  reverence  and  dignity. 

Through  all  these  years  the  rights  of  the  Indians  have 
been  increasingly  protected,  and  gradually,  through  the 
faith  and  practical  helpfulness  of  Rev.  Dirk  Lay,  they  have 
established  a  modern  agricultural  community.  Recently  a 
great  financier  thought  highly  enough  of  the  integrity  of 
these  Christian  Indians  to  back  them  to  the  extent  of  half 
a  million  dollars  with  no  legal  security  for  the  development 
of  their  farms. 

An  Illustration  o£  Medical  Work  Among  Indians. 
Thirty-six  hundred  square  miles  is  the  field  covered  by 
Dr.  Gary  Burke  and  his  wife.  Dr.  Alice  Burke,  among 
the  Navajos.  The  Indians  are  scattered  widely  over 
these  3600  square  miles  so  that  one  patient  to  ten  miles 
of  travel  is  the  average.  The  work  centers  at  Ganado, 
Arizona,  where  there  is  a  hospital  and  dispensary  and  also 
the  Kirkwood  Memorial  School.  From  this  center  the  doc- 
tors journey  by  horseback  or  buggy  to  the  homes  of  the  In- 
dians, and  three  times  a  month  make  a  forty-seven-mile  trip 
to  Indian  Wells  where  there  is  another  hospital.  Approxi- 
mately 300  patients  are  treated  monthly  with  the  result 
that  the  Indians  are  fast  forsaking  their  medicine  men  with 
their  songs  and  dances  and  learning  the  more  modern  and 
scientific  ways  of  caring  for  their  bodies.  And  along  with 
this  knowledge  they  are  finding  the  Christian  friendship 
of  the  doctors. 


148  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

A  glimpse  of  Dr.  Burke's  work  is  given  in  this  letter  from 
him: 

Saturday  noon  Mr.  Smith,  the  minister,  and  I  started  to 
see  a  patient,  a  young  girl  who  had  been  ill  for  two  months. 
The  medicine  men  had  not  been  able  to  help  her.  She  lived 
thirty-three  miles  from  Ganado.  It  was  thawing  and  the 
roads  were  getting  muddy  but  we  got  along  all  right.  We 
arrived  at  a  trading  post  twenty-five  miles  from  Ganado 
about  five  o'clock  and  we  stayed  there  all  night.  The  next 
morning  we  got  a  guide  and  went  on  to  see  the  patient.  We 
found  her  quite  ill  but  not  hopeless.  I  asked  that  she  be 
brought  to  the  hospital  at  Ganado  but  her  people  did  not 
even  know  that  there  was  a  hospital  at  Ganado  for  it  has 
been  closed  about  four  years.  They  were  dubious  about 
bringing  their  loved  one  to  a  place  about  which  they  knew 
nothing.  They  asked  me  all  kinds  of  questions  about  my 
own  ability  and  about  the  hospital  equipment  and  then  to 
be  sure  about  it  they  asked  the  minister  on  the  side  if  I 
was  telling  the  truth.  They  even  asked  if  we  had  beds  in 
the  hospital.  I  did  all  I  could  for  her  there  in  the  hogan 
and  left  with  the  promise  that  they  would  bring  her  to  the 
hospital  inside  of  five  days.  Since  then  there  has  been  a 
terrible  thaw  and  the  roads  are  about  impassable  and  the 
girl  has  not  arrived  at  the  hospital  yet. 

After  attending  the  girl  I  started  working  in  the  dif- 
ferent hogans  in  that  camp  and  for  four  hours  I  went  from 
one  to  the  other  trying  to  give  relief  from  physical  suffer- 
ing the  best  I  could.  Sometimes  it  was  only  a  trivial  thing, 
other  times  something  more  serious.  After  tending  all 
who  needed  us  we  drove  back  to  the  trading  post  where  we 
had  been  the  night  before,  getting  back  at  five  o'clock,  hav- 
ing had  nothing  to  eat  all  day.  That  night  I  retired  about 
eight  o'clock  and  after  I  had  turned  in  some  more  patients 
came  to  the  trading  post  to  see  me.  The  trader  would  not 
call  me  and  told  them  to  come  back  in  the  morning  early 
as  we  were  going  on  to  Indian  Wells  the  next  morning,  that 
place  being  only  thirty  miles  from  Indian  Wells.  The  next 
morning,  sure  enough,  two  patients  came  in  to  see  me  and 
I  treated  them.  I  had  treated  twenty  patients  in  the  two 
days. 


INDIANS  149 

We  drove  the  thirty  miles  to  Indian  Wells  without  mis- 
hap stopping  at  a  little  lake  to  have  dinner  where  we  had 
to  chop  a  hole  in  the  ice  to  water  our  horses  and  where  we 
cooked  our  dinner  in  three  inches  of  mud.  We  had  mud 
in  everything  except  some  fruit  cake  that  some  thoughtful 
friend  had  sent  out  for  Christmas  and  which  had  lasted 
until  that  trip.  We  got  to  Indian  Wells  at  sunset  having 
driven  the  horses  100  miles  in  four  days.  We  laid  up  there 
for  three  days  and  I  did  what  I  could  for  the  hospital 
cases  and  the  dispensary  patients.  There  are  always  a 
number  of  patients  who  plan  on  .coming  in  when  I  am  go- 
ing to  be  there.  Friday  morning  we  started  for  Ganado 
and  we  found  the  roads  very  muddy  and  badly  washed 
out  in  places.  I  was  anxious  to  get  to  Ganado  and  so  de- 
spite the  mud  we  tried  to  come  clear  through  in  one  day. 
It  took  us  fourteen  hours  and  in  that  time  we  gave  the  horses 
fifty  minutes  rest  to  eat  a  nosebag  of  oats  and  drink  a  little 
water  from  a  mountain  stream.  Of  course  darkness  fell  be- 
fore we  reached  Ganado  and  the  road  was  washed  out  so 
that  we  never  knew  quite  what  was  going  to  happen  next. 
We  tipped  over  once  and  had  to  dig  out  of  the  hole  we  were 
in  so  the  horses  could  pull  the  buggy  back  on  its  wheels 
as  it  was  so  heavy  with  mud  that  we  could  not  lift  it.  We 
got  out  with  no  serious  trouble  to  either  us  or  the  buggy 
and  came  on  to  within  a  mile  of  the  hospital  at  Ganado 
when  we  got  stuck  in  some  quicksand  while  crossing  the 
big  river  called  the  Pueblo  Colorado.  The  horses  pulled 
on  the  buggy  until  they  started  to  break  the  whiffletrees 
when  we  stopped  them  and  climbed  out  in  the  icy  water 
up  to  our  knees  and  unhitched  them  and  walked  home.  I 
then  got  a  man  and  a  wagon  and  we  went  down  and  hitched 
on  to  the  rear  axle  of  the  buggy  and  pulled  it  out.  We 
came  home,  got  into  dry  clothes,  fed  the  horses  and  our- 
selves and  got  to  bed  at  3.00  a.m. 

The  next  morning  at  nine  a  man  came  running  in  for  us 
to  come  quick  to  see  his  wife.  We  questioned  him  and 
found  that  she  really  was  in  need  of  immediate  help  so 
I  saddled  a  pair  of  tired  horses  and  Dr.  Alice  and  I  started 
again,  hiring  another  horse  so  that  we  might  take  with  us 
our  woman  interpreter.  We  rode  about  ten  miles  up  a 
valley  and  came  to  a  little  hogan  with  a  very  sick  woman  in 


150  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

it.  We  found  that  we  would  have  to  give  her  an  anaesthetic 
and  so  we  had  them  take  out  all  the  fire  as  they  always 
have  open  fires,  and  there  upon  the  ground  we  gave  her  an 
anaesthetic  and  fixed  her  up.  Two  days  later  I  returned 
to  find  her  doing  nicely.  It  is  now  January  27,  Tuesday. 
I  have  been  in  Ganado  just  two  whole  days  since  Jan- 
uary I. 

The  Task  That  Remains.  The  work  of  our  doctors 
and  teachers  and  ministers,  valuable  as  it  all  is,  will  never 
bear  its  full  fruit  unless  we  develop  a  native  ministry  among 
the  Indians.  This  is  the  first  and  foremost  task  that  re- 
mains. Every  missionary  upon  the  field  bears  testimony 
that  the  crying  need  among  the  Indians  is  an  adequately 
trained  and  consecrated  native  leadership.  At  present  there 
is  no  system  of  recruiting  young  men  of  piety  and  promise 
to  dedicate  their  lives  to  the  service  of  God  in  either  min- 
istry, teaching,  or  medical  work,  and  these  are  the  very 
lines  of  service  which  the  Indians  need  most. 

Second  in  importance  to  the  need  of  a  native  leader- 
ship is  the  need  of  a  resident  ministry.  Altogether  too 
many  missionaries  among  the  Indians  have  followed  the 
circuit-riding  plan  which  has  wrought  havoc  with  the  coun- 
try church.  Like  the  itinerant  rural  minister  the  itinerant 
Indian  missionary  preaches  at  one  station  one  Sunday  and 
then  moves  on  to  another  station  the  next  Sunday  and  so 
on  around  three  or  four  stations,  never  staying  at  one  com- 
munity long  enough  to  develop  a  genuine,  helpful  friend- 
ship and  leadership  in  local  affairs. 

Finally  we  must  help  the  Indian  develop  his  social 
life.  He  is  just  learning  the  white  man's  method  of  farming 
and  industry  and  play.  It  is  of  utmost  importance  to  the 
salvation  of  his  own  spirit  and  to  the  welfare  of  those  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact,  that  the  Indian  as  he  takes 
his  place  in  modern  social  life  has  in  his  heart  an  under- 


INDIANS  151 

standing  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  as  well  as  the 
privileges  of  social  life.  The  Indian  of  to-day  is  an  indi- 
vidualist to  the  last  degree;  the  Indian  of  to-morrow  must 
be  a  more  social  creature;  more  willing  to  give,  to  serve 
and  to  fulfill  the  commandment,  'Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself." 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  Describe  the  present-day  Indians  as  to  numbers;  loca- 

tion; occupation;  language;  civic  status;  physical 
condition;  religion. 

2.  What  is  the  white  man^s  obligation? 

3.  What  has  the  Presbyterian  Church  done  already? 

4.  What   are  the  peculiar  difficulties   in   Indian   work? 

Describe  the  work  of  Dr.  Cook  and  his  successor, 
Rev.  Dirk  Lay. 

5.  Illustrate  the  medical  work. 

6.  What  remains  to  be  done? 


CHAPTER   VI 
THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHILDREN 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHILDREN 

THE    CHALLENGE 
0£  the  Field 

The  United  States  of  America  has  been  invaded  by 
three  enemy  armies  which  threaten  our  national  ex- 
istence. First,  there  is  within  our  borders  an  army 
of  five  and  one-half  million  illiterates  above  nine  years 
of  age;  second,  there  is  an  army  of  fifty  million  peo- 
ple above  nine  years  of  age  who  are  not  identified 
with  any  church  —  Jewish,  Catholic,  or  Protestant; 
third,  there  is  an  army  of  twenty-seven  million 
Protestant  children  and  youth,  under  twenty-five  years 
of  age,  who  are  not  enrolled  in  any  Sunday  school  or 
other  institution  for  religious  training. 

If  these  three  armies  should  form  in  double  column, 
three  feet  apart,  they  would  reach  one  and  one-fifth 
times  around  the  globe  at  the  equator.  If  they  should 
march  in  review  before  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  moving  double  column  at  the  rate  of  twenty- 
five  miles  a  day,  it  would  take  the  three  armies  three 
years  and  five  months  to  pass  the  President. 

These  three  interlocking  armies  constitute  a  triple 
alliance  which  threatens  the  life  of  our  democracy. 
Patriotism  demands  that  every  loyal  American  enlist 
for  service  and  wage  three  great  campaigns  —  a  cam- 
paign of  Americanization,  a  campaign  of  adult  evan- 
gelism, and  a  campaign  for  the  spiritual  nurture  of 
childhood. 

American   Volume  —  Inter  church   Survey. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHILDREN 

THE  ANSWER 
Of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

The  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School  Work 
is  the  agency  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  which  the 
whole  task  of  providing  for  the  religious  education  of 
the  children  and  youth  has  been  assigned.  Its  main 
function  is  "the  promotion  of  the  nurture  of  the  chil- 
dren and  youth  in  Christian  knowledge  and  life.''  Its 
program  includes  extending  the  agencies  of  religious 
education,  developing  and  promoting  policies  and 
methods,  and  providing  and  disseminating  materials 
such  as  Sunday-school  lessons,  tracts,  periodicals,  and 
books.  More  than  1,300,000  publications  were  issued 
last  year.  Twenty-nine  hundred  and  fourteen  Sun- 
day schools  enrolling  118,1 2 g  children  and  adults 
are  under  the  care  of  Sabbath-school  missionaries. 
Twenty  new  Presbyterian  churches  were  developed  in 
this  work  last  year,  and  since  1887  nearly  2000  Pres- 
byterian churches  have  grown  from  the  Sunday  schools 
established  by  this  Board.  One  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  Sabbath-school  missionaries  are  commissioned  in 
this  work. 

The  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School  Work 
in  cooperation  with  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  is 
conducting  237  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools  enrolling 
27,749  children.  A  special  effort  is  directed  toward 
maintaining  these  schools  among  immigrant  children 
in  connection  with  the  churches  of  foreign-speaking 
peoples. 

In  a  number  of  urban  and  rural  sections  week-day 
classes  and  community  schools  have  been  organized 
for  religious  instruction  during  the  school  year. 

An  admirable  record;  but  the  major  task  is  still 
ahead  of  us,  for  systematic  religious  education  is  still 
the  blessing  of  the  minority  only,  and  the  great  masses 
of  American  and  immigrant  children  are  growing  up 
without  it. 


Chapter  VI 

THE   CHURCH   AND    THE   CHILDREN 

Fundamental  to  All  Other  Work.  Thus  far  we  have 
considered  great  national  tasks  of  the  Church.  Now  we 
come  closer  home  to  a  task  which  is  fundamental  to  all  the 
rest.  It  is  the  task  of  training  the  children  of  America  in 
the  Christian  life  —  the  task  of  Christian  education.  "If 
you  would  point  to  the  weakest  spot  in  the  Protestant 
Church,"  says  Dr.  Walter  S.  Athearn,  "you  would  put  your 
finger  on  the  army  of  27,000,000  children  and  youth  in  our 
own  land  who  are  growing  up  in  spiritual  illiteracy,  and 
16,000,000  other  American  Protestant  children  whose  re- 
ligious instruction  is  limited  to  a  brief  half  hour  once  a 
week,  often  sandwiched  in  between  a  delayed  preaching 
service  and  an  American  Sunday  dinner.  Let  it  be  burned 
into  the  minds  of  the  leaders  of  the  Church  that  a  Church 
which  cannot  save  its  own  children  can  never  save  the 
world!* 

Christian  Education  Is  a  Missionary  Enterprise. 
Under  the  terms  of  the  great  commission  every  enterprise 
which  is  concerned  in  any  manner  in  the  promotion  of 
Christ's  Kingdom  is  in  the  widest  and  truest  sense  a  mission- 
ary agency.  Recognizing  the  necessity  and  importance  of 
proclaiming  the  gospel  message  to  the  benighted  in  heathen 
lands  and  to  the  neglected  within  our  own  borders,  by  those 
whom  we  specifically  designate  as  "miissionaries,"  our  con- 
cq)tion  of  the  missionary  task  covers  a  wider  scope  and 

156 


THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CHILDREN       157 

includes  other  forms  of  service  in  Kingdom  building.  Pas- 
tors, Sunday-school  workers,  leaders  in  young  people's  or- 
ganizations, and  all  who  labor  especially  for  the  Christian 
nurture  of  childhood  and  youth,  even  Christian  parents 
gathering  their  children  about  the  family  altar,  teaching 
them  the  principles  of  Christian  living  and  training  them 
for  service,  are  helping  to  answer  the  petition  ''Thy  kingdom 
come"  and  are  likewise  missionaries.  Indeed  the  mission- 
ary task  is  impossible  of  achievement  without  the  fulfillment 
of  our  obligation  to  provide  for  the  religious  education  of 
children  and  youth. 

Jesus'  View  of  the  Importance  of  the  Child  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  It  was  Jesus  who  first  taught  the  world 
the  potentialities  of  childhood.  To  the  child  he  accorded  the 
foremost  place  in  the  Kingdom.  He  exalted  childhood  when 
he  said, "Whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my  name 
receiveth  me."  When  mothers  thronged  about  him  with 
their  children  he  gathered  the  little  ones  in  his  arms  and  laid 
his  hand  in  benediction  upon  them.  When  his  disciples  would 
rebuke  them  and  send  them  away  he  restrained  them  with  the 
words, "Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid 
them  not;  for  to  such  belongeth  the  kingdom  of  God."  He 
likewise  condemned  those  who  by  design  or  through  neglect 
would  place  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  their  entrance  into 
the  Kingdom  when  he  said,  "Whosoever  shall  cause  one  of 
these  little  ones  that  believe  on  me  to  stumble,  it  were  better 
for  him  if  a  great  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
he  were  cast  into  the  sea."  How  significant  of  his  concern 
for  the  child  was  his  answer  to  the  questions  of  his  disciples 
concerning  the  expected  Kingdom.  When  "He  called  to  him 
a  little  child,  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them"  he  set  the 
example  for  the  Church  throughout  all  the  ages.  He  might 
have  said:  "Here  is  your  greatest  problem.  Train  the  child 
aright  and  my  Kingdom  will  be  hastened." 


158  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

The  Weakest  Point  in  the  Protestant  Church. 
The  Protestant  Church  in  theory  holds,  of  course,  Jesus' 
view  of  the  importance  of  the  child  in  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
but  in  practice  we  have  not  been  working  very  hard  at  the 
theory.  The  religious  training  which  the  average  Protestant 
child  receives  is  less  than  26  hours  per  year.  The  average 
Catholic  child  receives  200  hours  per  year  and  the  average 
Jewish  child  335  hours  per  year. 

The  situation  is  worse  when  we  are  informed  that  the  en- 
rollment in  our  Sunday  schools  is  on  the  decline  rather  than 
on  the  increase.  In  19 15  the  Presbyterian  Sunday-school 
enrollment  in  the  United  States  was  1,375,875.  In  19 19  it 
had  fallen  to  1,319,416.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  half  of  the 
students  enrolled  in  Presbyterian  Sunday  schools  attend  less 
than  half  the  time,  and  you  have  some  conception  of  the  in- 
adequate amount  of  religious  training  the  Protestant  Church 
is  giving  its  children.  A  large  army  of  children  is  growing 
into  manhood  and  womanhood  without  a  moral  foundation 
for  citizenship.  The  surveys  of  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  have  revealed  the  very  definite  relations  between 
Sunday-school  enrollment  and  church  membership.  The 
great  national  denominations  which  are  holding  their  own 
or  growing,  are  denominations  who  are  giving  their  time  and 
attention  to  the  development  of  their  Sunday  schools. 

Some  Lessons  From  the  War.  A  committee  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  Churches  after  studying  reports  from 
hundreds  of  chaplains,  Y.  M.  C.  A.  secretaries,  and  other 
religious  leaders  of  our  boys  in  the  war,  report  that  there 
was  a  general  agreement  among  these  leaders  along  the  fol- 
lowing points  concerning  religious  education  in  America: 

First.  The  widespread  ignorance  of  the  meaning  of 
Christianity  and  of  church  membership  demands  a  greatly 
increased  emphasis  on  the  teaching  office  of  the  Church. 

Second.    The  revelation  of  the  large  degree  of  failure  in 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       159 

our  religious  education  challenges  us  to  a  far  more  serious 
attention  to  the  Sunday  school  and  a  candid  examination 
of  its  curriculum,  methods  of  teaching,  and  organization. 
The  present  curriculum,  the  present  methods  of  teaching, 
and  the  present  organization,  simply  have  not  produced  the 
results  they  sought  —  that  is,  they  have  not  taught  even 
those  who  attended  them  the  meaning  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion nor  have  they  trained  young  men  in  the  way  of  Chris- 
tian living. 

Third.  Training  in  intelligent  habits  of  private  and 
public  worship  should  be  greatly  stressed. 

Fourth.  Two  false  conceptions  of  Christianity  should 
be  openly  and  convincingly  combated  —  that  it  is  selfish 
in  that  it  aims  simply  at  salvation  of  the  individual  from 
hell  fire,  and  that  it  is  a  negative  thing  made  up  of  'Thou- 
shalt-nots." 

Fifth.  A  Christian  interpretation  of  sex  life  must  be  a 
regular  part  of  all  Christian  education.  All  leaders  agree 
that  sexual  immorality  was  the  greatest  problem  in  per- 
sonal morality  in  the  army. 

Sixth.  The  religious  instruction  and  training  given  in 
the  home  outlives  all  other  religious  education.  In  direct- 
ing or  controlling  that  influence  lies  our  greatest  opportunity. 
One  leader  expressed  the  consensus  of  opinion  in  this  way, 
"The  faith  they  have  came  from  the  home  for  the  most  part, 
and  generally  from  a  good  mother  who  taught  them."  ^ 

The  Hope  of  the  Church.  Let  us  accept  these  facts 
and  judgments  and  wrestle  with  them  as  Jacob  wrestled 
with  the  angel  until  they  yield  us  a  blessing.  The  hope  of 
the  Church  to-day  is  in  the  recognition  of  the  child  in  her 
midst.  The  world  is  learning  the  value  of  prevention. 
Robert  Raikes,  the  founder  of  the  Sunday-school  movement, 
after  he  had  lived  to  see  its  remarkable  growth  and  in- 
fluence upon  the  children  of  England  said:  "I  have  learned 
that  prevention  is  better  than  cure.    It  is  better  to  train  a 

*  Religion  and  American  Men,  by  the  Committee  on  the  War  and 
the  Religious  Outlook.    Association  Press. 


i6o  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 


/. 


child  to  be  honest  than  to  reform  a  thief;  it  is  better  to 
train  a  child  to  tell  the  truth  than  to  reform  a  liar." 

The  future  of  our  civilization,  whether  it  be  pagan  or 
Christian,  will  be  determined  by  the  measure  of  the  Church's 
obedience  to  the  Saviour's  command,  "Feed  my  lambs," 
for  back  of  the  Church  and  missions  and  every  movement 
for  the  redemption  of  mankind,  stands  the  child.  The 
chief  concern,  therefore,  of  the  Christian  forces  of  America 
should  be  the  careful  cultivation  of  the  religious  life  of  the 
nation's  children. 

Sunday-School  Missions.  How  shall  we  meet  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  great  multitude  of  children  who  are 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  church?  Among  the  great  re- 
ligious bodies  of  America  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  the 
first  to  face  this  problem  and  decide  upon  a  plan  to  pro- 
vide its  solution.  The  knowledge  that  millions  of  children 
in  every  part  of  our  country,  especially  those  who  were 
living  in  regions  into  which  religious  privileges  had  not  yet 
been  introduced,  were  without  opportunities  of  church  or 
Sunday  school,  stirred  the  heart  of  the  Church  to  extend  its 
educational  activities  by  establishing  a  force  of  workers 
whose  special  mission  is  to  organize  Sunday  schools  for 
them.  These  workers  are  instructed  to  establish,  in  every 
neighborhood  within  their  reach,  a  Sunday-school  organiza- 
tion into  which  the  children  can  be  gathered  for  Bible 
instruction  and  from  which  would  radiate  influence  which 
would  bear  fruit  in  Christian  character,  Christian  homes, 
and  transformed  communities. 

Beginnings.  Beginning  with  14  Sabbath-school  mis- 
sionaries this  work  has  grown  year  by  year  to  a  force  num- 
bering 140,  besides  26  other  workers  whose  special  mission 
is  to  minister  to  the  immigrant  population.  Into  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  families  the  Christian  message  has 
been  introduced  for  the  'first  time  through  the  labors  of 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       i6i 

these  faithful  men  and  women.  Family  altars  have  been 
kindled,  backsliders  have  been  reclaimed,  and  the  indiffer- 
ent have  been  brought  to  repentance.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  children  and  young  people  have  been  gathered  into 
the  Sunday  schools  that  have  been  established  since  the 
beginning  of  this  work,  many  of  them  hearing  for  the  first 
time  the  story  of  the  children's  Friend.  Through  the  faith- 
ful teaching  of  the  Word  in  these  schools,  many  have 
been  led  to  consecrate  themselves  to  his  service. 

Fruitage.  In  these  humble  schools  of  religion,  am- 
bitions and  aspirations  have  been  awakened  in  the  lives  of 
a  countless  number  of  boys  and  girls  who  have  gone  forth 
into  careers  of  usefulness  to  their  fellows.  The  town  and 
city  churches  have  felt  the  effect  of  these  labors,  for  they 
count  among  their  most  active  workers  those  who  came  from 
the  country  Sunday  schools.  The  foundations  of  Christian 
character  which  were  laid  in  the  little  mission  Sunday 
schools  back  in  their  rural  homes,  have  withstood  the  storms 
of  temptation  and  doubt  as  they  have  gone  out  to  schools 
and  colleges;  and  in  seasons  of  religious  awakening,  they 
have  been  among  the  first  to  come  forward,  offering  to 
dedicate  their  lives  to  the  ministry  and  to  missionary  serv- 
ice. 

The  Sunday  school  can  go  where  the  Church  cannot  be 
established.  It  appeals  to  everyone.  Its  aim  is  not  to  ad- 
vance denominational  prestige,  but  to  provide  in  the  broad- 
est spirit  of  catholicity  for  the  religious  instruction  and 
training  of  the  children,  to  lay  the  foundations  of  Christian 
character,  and  to  develop  Christian  lives. 

Neglecting  Children.  In  spite  of  this  good  work 
which  has  been  done  in  organizing  Sunday  schools  in  com- 
munities where  the  children  would  otherwise  have  no  re- 
ligious training  outside  of  their  homes  (and  often  not  there) 
there  are  still  a  vast  number  of  children  unreached.     In 


1 62  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

his  recent  book,  "Religious  Education  and  American  De- 
mocracy," Dr.  Athearn  says,  ''There  are  15,000,000  chil- 
dren of  school  age  in  this  country  who  receive  no  religious 
guidance  whatever.  There  are  35,000,000  over  ten  years  of 
age  outside  the  membership  of  any  church.  We  are  fast 
drifting  into  a  cultured  paganism  and  unless  the  Church 
takes  important  steps  to  stem  the  present  tide  of  indiffer- 
ence, luxury,  and  commercial  greed  this  country  will  soon 
cease  to  be  a  Christian  nation  —  if,  indeed,  a  country  in 
which  three  out  of  four  of  its  citizens  are  without  active 
church  relations  can  be  said  to  be  a  Christian  country 
now." 

In  the  western  states  are  large  areas,  comprising  parts  of 
counties,  and  entire  communities  which  are  either  un- 
churched or  inadequately  churched.  A  study  has  been  made 
of  16  counties  in  one  western  state  where  it  was  found  that  a 
good  proportion  of  the  people  have  no  regular  church  serv- 
ices, not  to  speak  of  an  adequate  religious  ministry.  In 
these  sixteen  counties  there  are  42  entire  communities  which 
have  no  church  organization  or  Sunday  school  or  pastor  or 
regular  church  activities.  There  are  60  communities  which 
have  church  organizations  or  huildings,  but  lack  a  resident 
pastor  —  one  of  the  essentials  to  church  growth  and  pros- 
perity. 

These  conditions  are  not  confined  to  the  far  West.  Every 
state  in  the  Union  has  thousands  of  children  nominally 
Protestant  but  not  enrolled  in  Sunday  school  and  receiving 
no  formal  religious  education.  The  figures  as  compiled  by 
the  Religious  Education  Department  of  the  Interchurch 
World  Survey  are  startling. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       163 


Children  in  United  StatesUnder  25 
Years  of  Age  (1917) 

Alabama    1,418,360 

Arizona    131,890 

Arkansas    1,059,800 

California    1,241,900 

Colorado   464,510 

Connecticut     594,720 

Delaware  103,270 

Dist.   of   Columbia...  155,090 

Florida 513.060 

Georgia    1,766,460 

Idaho  231490 

Illinois    3,055,140 

Indiana    1,389,390 

Iowa 1,134,630 

Kansas  944,450 

Kentucky     1,340,690 

Louisiana 1,095,600 

Maine    342,030 

Maryland    686,830 

Massachusetts 1,699,180 

Michigan   1,516,190 

Minnesota  1,225,590 

Mississippi 1,205,700 

Missouri    1,749,090 

Montana   222,270 

Nebraska  693,420 

Nevada    40,970 

New    Hampshire 195,540 

New    Jersey 1,446,810 

New  Mexico 249,950 

New  York 4,916,280 

North   Carolina 1,484,970 

North   Dakota 436,230 

Ohio  2,449,680 

Oklahoma    1,351,010 

Oregon   387,890 

Pennsylvania 4,330,020 

Rhode  Island 294,150 

South    Carolina 1,035,210 

South    Dakota 379,990 

Tennessee    1,313,630 

Texas   2,664,090 

Utah 253,000 

Vermont    160,670 

Virginia   1,261,420 

Washington 734,800 

West  Virginia 805,180 

Wisconsin    1,314,120 

Wyoming     88,780 

Total  53,575,040 


Number  Nominally  Protestant,Ujuler  25 
Years  of  Age,  not  in  Sunday  School. 


1,100,250 

76,490 

890,000 

664,590 

299,910 

161,100 

39,150 

75,920 

383,430 

1,348,790 
164,540 

1,317,770 
551,590 
570,910 
429,960 
821,150 
624,690 
143,700 
231,570 
627,210 
584,160 
706,330 
755,900 
883,490 
115,620 
426,940 
35,290 
66,150 
574,200 
132,950 

1,755,870 
885,540 
306,800 

1,052,880 

>, 02  8, 000 
240,170 
977,960 
99,080 
669,340 
270,970 
970,420 

1,376,580 
106,040 
62,810 
860,080 
496,350 
472,640 
779,590 
59,340 

Total  27,274,210 


i64  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Such  "spiritual  illiteracy  is  the  forerunner  of  moral  bank- 
ruptcy and  national  decay."  The  proverb  ''Train  up  a 
child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  even  when  he  is  old  he 
will  not  depart  from  it/'  works  both  ways.  Train  him  in 
the  religious  way  and  he  will  so  order  his  life;  train  him 
irreligiously,  or  fail  to  train  him  at  all,  and  he  will  order  his 
life  according  to  his  own  selfishness. 

Summing  Up  the  Unfinished  Task  in  Sunday- 
School  Extension.  With  such  facts  before  us  the  obli- 
gation of  the  Church  to  the  neglected  childhood  of  America 
is  clearly  manifest.  Children  of  the  prairies  and  plains, 
children  of  the  mining,  oil,  and  lumber  camps,  children  of 
the  Southern  Mountains,  and  the  dark-skinned  children  of 
the  palmettos  and  pines  are  growing  into  maturity,  into 
citizenship,  without  the  knowledge  of  God,  with  no  training 
toward  righteousness,  with  no  one  to  lead  them  in  the 
Christian  way.  Children  who  do  not  know  God,  who  are  in 
ignorance  of  the  Bible,  who  have  never  been  taught  to 
pray  and  have  never  heard  the  voice  of  their  parents  or  of 
a  Christian  minister  uplifted  in  prayer  —  it  is  not  of  such 
children  that  a  people's  strength  is  built.  What  hope  does 
the  future  hold  for  us  as  a  Church  or  as  a  Christian  nation, 
unless  we  approach  this,  undoubtedly  our  greatest  problem, 
with  an  aggressive  program  of  religious  education,  big 
enough  and  broad  enough  to  guarantee  to  every  child  in 
America  at  least  an  opportunity  to  be  taught  the  truths  of 
the  Bible  and  the  principles  of  Christian  living? 

Sunday-School  Development.  Simply  to  establish 
Sunday  schools  is  not  enough.  Making  the  schools  effective 
is  the  real  task.  The  Sabbath-school  missionaries  take  them 
under  their  fostering  care,  develop  the  workers,  and  bring 
them  step  by  step  to  a  position  where  they  may  render  help- 
ful service  to  their  communities. 

The  Sabbath-school  missionaries  not  only  organize  and 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       165 

maintain  new  Sunday  schools,  but  they  render  efficient  serv- 
ice to  the  Sunday  schools  connected  with  organized 
churches  by  holding  conferences  with  their  officers  and 
teachers,  and  introducing  new  and  effective  methods  of 
work. 

They  organize  teacher-training  classes,  encourage  the 
introduction  of  the  Cradle  Roll  and  Home  Department, 
besides  promoting  young  people's  organizations.  They  are 
charged  with  the  responsibility  for  the  entire  program  of 
educational  endeavor,  adapting  it  to  the  local  conditions  so 
far  as  may  be  practicable.  Daily  Vacation  Bible  Schools 
are  being  promoted  and  successfully  conducted  through  their 
efforts  in  small  towns  and  in  rural  districts;  young  people's 
organizations  are  being  formed  and  encouraged;  pastors' 
classes  are  being  introduced,  and  in  a  few  cases,  through 
the  cooperation  of  Christian  school-teachers,  week-day  re- 
ligious instruction  is  being  provided.  Yet  the  number  of 
Sabbath-school  missionaries  is  so  small  and  the  size  of  the 
task  so  great  that  the  Church  cannot  say  it  is  solving  the 
problem  of  religious  education.  We  are  only  making  a 
beginning. 

Religious  Education  for  the  Immigrant.  Over  21,- 
000,000  children  are  being  reared  in  the  homes  of  these 
foreign  born  where  association  of  language,  reading  matter, 
and  social  life  is  tinctured  with  the  spirit  and  ideas  of  the 
homelands  of  the  parents. 

These  children  sit  with  our  native-born  American  children 
in  the  public  schools,  but,  except  in  rare  cases,  little  has 
been  done  toward  inviting  them  to  participate  in  the  privi- 
leges of  our  church  schools.  Sunday  schools  are  being  con- 
ducted in  connection  with  mission  churches  and  social  centers 
that  have  been  established  by  our  own  and  other  evangelical 
bodies,  but  the  number  of  foreign-born  children  reached 
by  them  is  still  comparatively  small.     This  is  a  practical 


i66  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

problem  that  should  be  earnestly  considered  by  our  churches, 
especially  by  those  located  in  sections  where  immigrant 
families  are  residing  within  the  boundaries  of  the  parish. 
Thousands  of  children  of  foreigners  are  playing  on  the 
streets  within  the  sound  of  the  songs  and  exercises  of  our 
Sunday  schools,  but  no  one  invites  them  to  come  and  par- 
ticipate in  these  services.  Special  classes  could  be  formed 
for  such  children,  workers  could  be  enlisted  and  developed, 
and  various  forms  of  Christian  social  service  could  be  ren- 
dered that  would  have  a  salutary  effect  upon  the  life  of 
the  whole  community,  besides  fulfilling  the  obligations  of 
the  local  church  to  use  all  its  facilities  for  the  Christian 
nurture  of  all  the  children  within  its  reach  regardless  of 
ethnical  considerations. 

The  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School.  The  plan  of  the 
Daily  Vacation  Bible  School  was  originally  conceived  to 
meet  this  very  need,  and  in  most  cases  it  has  been  very 
effective,  but  we  should  take  the  next  step  and  make  the 
immigrant  children  equally  welcome  in  our  Sunday  schools 
and  other  church  activities. 

But  the  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School  does  far  more  than 
provide  some  elements  of  religious  education  for  immi- 
grant children,  slum  children,  and  other  children  who  are 
not  reached  by  the  church  school.  It  has  been  found  to  be 
a  most  helpful  agency  in  supplementing  during  the  summer 
vacation  season  the  religious  instruction  which  the  children 
of  the  Sunday  school  receive.  The  sessions  of  the  Sunday 
school  occupy  only  fifty-two  hours  per  year;  the  Daily 
Vacation  Bible  School  occupies  two  and  a  half  hours  per 
day  for  five  days  each  week,  covering  a  period  of  five  weeks, 
or  a  total  of  sixty-two  and  a  half  hours  a  year. 

The  Church  is  rapidly  coming  to  a  realization  of  the 
value  of  the  Daily  Vacation  Bible  School,  and  the  growth 
of  the  movement  within  the  past  few  years  has  been  almost 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       167 

phenomenal.  Last  year  237  such  schools  were  reported  in 
connection  with  Presbyterian  churches,  with  an  enrollment 
(in  the  schools)  of  nearly  27,749.  Doubtless  there  were 
many  more  from  whom  no  report  was  received.  From 
present  indications,  the  reports  of  this  year  will  show  a 
great  increase  over  last  year's  figure.  At  the  present  rate 
of  development,  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  within  the  near 
future  every  church  will  consider  the  Daily  Vacation  Bible 
School  as  necessary  a  factor  in  the  religious  nurture  of  its 
children  as  the  Sunday  school  and  other  agencies  through 
which  this  work  is  being  developed. 

Week-Day  Religious  Instruction.  There  is  a  grow- 
ing conviction  among  leaders  in  religious  educational  work 
that  neither  the  Sunday  school,  nor  the  Daily  Vacation 
Bible  School,  nor  both,  can  adequately  meet  the  widespread 
demand  for  a  thoroughgoing  system  of  religious  education. 
The  Religious  Education  Division  of  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  reported  that  1,600,000  Jewish  children  in  the 
United  States  receive  an  average  of  335  hours  of  religious 
education  annually  in  the  synagogue  schools.  The  8,000,000 
Catholic  children  receive  200  hours  of  religious  education 
annually  under  the  system  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
In  comparison  with  the  half-hour  weekly  teaching  period 
in  our  Sunday  schools  which  is  provided  for  the  Protestant 
children  of  America,  the  evangelical  bodies  may  find  the 
explanation  of  the  hold  which  the  Jewish  and  Catholic 
churches  have  upon  their  children  and  youth,  and  the  rea- 
son for  the  drifting  away  of  so  many  of  our  Protestant  boys 
and  girls  from  the  church  and  its  services. 

Religious  nurture  rather  than  revivalism  of  the  old-time 
sort  is  the  more  normal,  more  reliable,  and  more  fruitful 
instrument  for  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  If  the 
Church  could  hold  its  own  children,  the  outpeopling  power 
of  a  righteous  stock  would  be  a  most  important  factor  in 


1 68  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

making  all  the  world  Christian.  The  experience  of  the 
Church  shows  that  preservation  is  better  than  rescue.  The 
exaltation  of  religious  education  to  the  highest  place  among 
the  instrumentalities  with  which  the  Church  is  to  establish 
the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men  is,  as  yet,  neither  universal 
nor  complete ;  but  evidently  such  a  place  for  religious  educa- 
tion in  the  program  of  the  Church  cannot  be  long  withheld, 
No  school  on  a  basis  of  one-hour-a-day-one-day-a-week  can 
be  made  a  sufficient  instrument  for  this  great  task.  No 
additional  time  we  may  be  able  to  give  to  it  on  our  over- 
crowded Christian  Sunday  can  help  matters  very  much. 
We  must  have  week-day  religious  instruction.  In  the 
evolution  of  the  educational  practices  of  the  Church,  it  may 
be  that  we  shall  come  to  think  of  Sunday  as  the  suitable 
time  for  children's  worship  and  praise;  to  think  of  re- 
ligious instruction  as  a  task  for  the  week-day  church  school 
leaving  the  Sunday  free  for  the  culture  of  the  deeper  re- 
ligious emotions  which  find  expression  in  song  and  prayer 
and  Christian  fellowship. 

Hence  many  are  coming  to  recognize  that  one  of  the 
greatest  tasks  of  the  Church,  in  this  day  of  great  tasks,  is 
hov^r  to  organize,  equip,  and  maintain  a  system  of  week- 
day church  schools  which  shall  have  an  adequate  program  of 
religious  instruction,  adequate  time  for  such  instruction, 
and  which  shall  reach  as  many  children  and  youth  as 
possible.^ 

To  meet  the  situation  we  may  do  one  of  three  things: 

a.  Insist  that  the  State  provide  religious  education  in  the 

public  schools.  That  would  certainly  result  in  the 
secularization  of  religious  instruction.  Moreover, 
it  is  contrary  to  the  principles  of  democracy. 

b.  Erect   a  system  of  parochial   schools.     That  would 

withdraw  the  Church's  children  from  the  common 
life  of  the  public  schools  which  is  so  essential  an 
element  in  training  for  life  in  a  democracy. 

c.  Create,  in  cooperation  with  public  schools,  a  system  of 

week-day  religious  instruction,  this  instruction  to  be 

^  Squires,  The  Gary  Plan  of  Church  Schools. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       169 

given  under  Church  auspices,  at  the  Church's  ex- 
pense, by  teachers  provided  by  the  Church.  This 
would  be  true  religious  education. 

Great  encouragement  has  been  given  this  movement  by 
the  recent  action  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City 
of  New  York  in  granting  one  afternoon  each  week  of 
the  school  year  for  religious  instruction  of  children  in  their 
respective  churches.  This  action  was  the  outgrowth  of 
the  work  of  an  organization  known  as  the  Protestant  Teach- 
ers' Association  in  which  several  hundred  Protestant  public- 
school  teachers  had  voluntarily  pledged  themselves  to  give 
to  all  the  school  children  who  could  be  enlisted,  a  stated 
number  of  hours  of  religious  instruction,  in  addition  to  the 
regular  school  period  and  without  encroaching  upon  the 
school  curriculum.  Doubtless  other  cities  will  follow  the 
action  taken  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  New  York  in 
opening  the  way  for  the  work  to  be  done  under  Church 
auspices.  Intelligent  and  persistent  effort  will  be  required 
to  make  the  movement  for  week-day  religious  instruction 
universal,  but  the  life  of  the  Protestant  Church  is  threatened 
unless  we  succeed.  It  will  cost  money.  But  the  Protestant 
Church  is  to-day  paying  three  times  as  much  for  its  janitors 
as  it  is  paying  for  the  religious  education  of  its  children  and 
youth. 

Organizing  the  Church  for  Religious  Education. 
Every  church  worker  recognizes  the  necessity  of  bringing 
all  educational  activities  of  the  Church,  both  instructional 
and  expressional,  under  a  properly  graded  and  correlated 
program.  Our  leaders  in  the  work  of  religious  education 
have  formulated  plans  to  help  attain  such  a  goal.  Churches 
everywhere  are  being  urged  to  organize  a  Council  of  Re- 
ligious Education,  under  a  simple  and  practical  plan  which 
is  adaptable  to  churches  of  large  or  small  numerical  strength. 


170  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

Complete  courses  of  religious  study  —  each  course  designed 
to  meet  the  needs  of  a  particular  age  group  —  have  been 
worked  out  on  pedagogical  principles.  The  limits  of  space 
prohibit  a  longer  description  of  these  plans  of  courses,  and 
the  reader  is  recommended  to  the  Sabbath  School  Board, 
Philadelphia  headquarters.  There  too,  much  helpful  litera- 
ture may  be  had  on  the  whole  subject  of  religious  edu- 
cation. 

The  Christian  Home.  Without  doubt  the  most  im- 
portant agency  for  religious  education  is  the  Christian  home. 
We  have  drifted  away  from  the  old-fashioned  home,  and  we 
have  lost  immeasurably  in  the  breaking  down  of  parental 
respect  and  authority,  in  the  lack  of  reverence  for  sacred 
things,  and  in  the  failure  to  recognize  God  as  the  head  of 
the  household,  and  to  depend  upon  his  kind  providence  for 
daily  needs.  The  fires  on  the  family  altar  have  died  out 
and  parental  instruction  in  religion  has  well-nigh  dis- 
appeared. 

Perplexities  o£  a  Parent.  Take  the  average  parent 
to-day.  Let  us  call  him  Smith.  He  is  a  modern  father, 
cultured,  keen  at  business,  a  decent  and  respectable  citizen. 
Smith  has  lost  the  sense  of  fellowship  with  a  divine  Father 
who  rules  wisely  and  well.  As  the  years  have  gone  by  Smith 
has  become  more  and  more  engrossed  in  his  business  and 
has  gradually  given  up  those  practices  of  worship  and  medi- 
tation that  were  the  atmosphere  of  such  fellowship.  He  has 
been  making  money  and  has  allowed  his  money  to  make  him 
independent  of  God. 

Moreover,  Smith's  reading  hasn't  been  especially  helpful 
in  reminding  him  that  something  precious  was  being  lost 
out  of  his  inner  life.  As  a  result  of  what  little  reading  on 
religious  subjects  he  has  done  he  feels,  as  one  father  ex- 
pressed it  recently,  that  "Somehow  Science  has  taken  away 
his  Lord  and  he  knows  not  where  she  has  laid  him."  There 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       171 

has  been  much  digging  these  last  years  into  the  Scriptures 
and  into  the  earliest  records  of  Christianity.  As  the  archeol- 
ogists  and  the  philologists  and  other  '^ologists"  have  dug 
deep  in  their  attempts  to  unearth  the  truth  that  lies  hidden 
under  the  dust  of  twenty  centuries,  some  of  that  dust  has 
been  scattered  about  and  has  flown  into  the  eyes  of  Smith 
and  he  has  run  away  fearing  that  something  terrible  has 
happened  to  his  religion.  His  fears  have  not  been  allayed 
when  he  has  seen  other  learned  folk  delving  into  the  soul 
itself  in  a  study  of  the  psychology  of  religion.  Smith  does 
not  pretend  to  know  just  what  this  study  has  actually  de- 
veloped, but  the  net  result  in  his  own  thinking  is  that  "it 
is  all  beyond  him."  To  Smith,  God  is  no  longer  a  reality; 
he  is  just  a  concept.  As  a  Methodist  preacher  once  put  it, 
"He  is  afraid  to  reach  up  a  hand  in  prayer  to  touch  the 
throne  of  the  Almighty  without  looking  back  over  his 
shoulder  to  see  if  some  psychologist  has  written  some  new 
article  that  might  make  him  modify  his  faith." 

Smith's  Morals  Are  Still  Good.  But  in  spite  of  all 
his  perplexities  Smith  is  a  good  and  honorable  man  and 
his  conscience  is  hitting  on  every  cylinder.  Why?  Because 
long  ago  in  his  youth  he  walked  with  God  and  talked  with 
him  as  a  Father.  With  the  help  of  God  he  formed  habits 
of  mind  and  conduct  that  were  clean  and  self-respecting. 
He  learned  to  look  upon  the  human  body  as  a  temple  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  He  learned  to  reverence  humanity  and  he 
regarded  human  personality  as  something  made  in  the 
image  of  God.  The  walks  and  talks  with  God  are  gone  now 
for  Smith.  The  glory  of  life  has  faded  into  the  light 
of  common  day,  but  the  habits  of  conduct  and  the  sensi- 
tive conscience  remain.  The  question  is,  can  Smith  pass 
on  to  his  children  his  conscience,  his  habits  of  conduct,  his 
morals,  and  his  spirit  without  the  God  that  inspired  them, 
without  the  religion  that  nurtured  them? 


172  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

A  Substitute  for  God.  Well,  Smith  has  been  trying  it. 
He  has  been  telling  his  children  that  this  and  that  act  is 
"unsocial"  and  the  children  laugh  and  ask,  "What  of  it?" 
He  tells  them  it  is  selfish,  and  they  answer,  "Why  not?" 
and  finally  he  falls  back  in  desperation  upon  the  vague 
threat  that  they  will  get  into  trouble  and  the  children  chuck 
him  under  the  chin  and  say,  "Who  cares?"  He  tries  to 
get  them  interested  in  humanitarian  effort,  community  work, 
social  service,  settlement  work,  and  so  forth,  and  they  enjoy 
it  just  as  they  enjoy  any  new  game  —  until  the  novelty 
wears  off.  He  urges  that  it  is  their  duty  to  carry  on,  to  help 
the  sick,  to  relieve  the  distressed,  to  do  everything  in  their 
power,  not  only  in  charity,  but  in  the  actual  making  of 
life  more  livable  for  the  other  fellow  —  to  make  justice  and 
mercy  and  the  milk  of  human  kindness  cover  the  earth  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea.  The  children  are  puzzled.  They 
want  to  know  what  is  duty  and  who  started  it  anyway. 
Poor  Smith!  He  finds  humanitarianism  a  poor  substitute 
for  God. 

There  Is  No  Substitute  for  God.  The  redeeming 
fact  about  Smith  is  that  he  has  been  coming  honestly  to 
recognize  that  there  is  no  substitute  for  God.  Smith  can- 
not pass  on  to  his  children  his  moral  standards,  his  respect 
for  human  personality,  his  reverence  for  the  divinity  in 
human  nature,  his  spirit  of  service,  without  the  God  that 
inspired  them,  and  the  religion  that  nurtured  them.  When 
this  realization  dawns  upon  him,  he  lifts  to  heaven  the 
old  petition:  "Lord,  restore  my  soul.  Give  me  back  my  faith 
in  thee  —  not  for  my  sake  only,  but  for  these  children 
who  will  take  my  place  when  I  am  gone."  The  answer  to 
that  petition  has  always  been  the  same.  The  Father  meets 
the  prodigal  while  he  is  still  far  from  home.  It  is  the  glory 
of  the  Christian  religion  that  it  promises  the  restoration  of 
all  things.     "I  will  restore  unto  you  the  years  the  locust 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CHILDREN       173 

hath  eaten;  that  the  canker  worm  and  the  palmer  worm 
have  destroyed."  So  Smith  takes  God  back  into  his  home 
and  old  joys  back  into  his  life. 

The  Christian  Home  of  To-Morrow.  The  brightest 
ray  in  our  hope  for  to-morrow  is  the  fact  that  a  new  Chris- 
tian home  is  emerging  out  of  the  spiritual  chaos  of  the  last 
few  years.  A  growing  host  of  men  and  women  have  fought 
their  way  through  the  barbed  entanglements  of  theological 
doubts,  through  the  alleged  differences  of  science  and  re- 
ligion, through  all  the  mental  suffering  that  marks  the 
progress  from  a  faith  that  is  traditional  to  a  faith  that  is 
vital.  And  having  persevered  they  have  conquered.  They 
nave  won  "God  out  of  knowledge  and  good  out  of  infinite 
pain,  sight  out  of  blindness  and  purity  out  of  a  stain."  They 
are  establishing  Christian  homes  —  homes  of  comradeship 
with  each  other  and  with  God.  "In  plenty  and  in  want,  in 
joy  and  in  sorrow,  in  sickness  and  in  health,"  they  abide  with 
him.  It  is  a  happy  comradeship,  an  abundant  life.  In  those 
homes  "bringing  up  the  children  in  the  nurture  and  ad- 
monition of  the  Lord"  doesn't  mean  sending  them  to  Sun- 
day school  an  hour  a  week.  It  means  training  them  to  do 
justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  God,  seek- 
ing his  Kingdom  and  his  righteousness  first.  Religion  in 
these  homes  is  not  a  negative  thing  of  "don'ts,"  but  a  posi- 
tive thing  of  faith  and  hope  and  love.  Religious  instruction 
is  daily  and  systematic  and  covers  every  human  relation- 
ship—  individual,  social,  sexual,  political,  industrial,  and 
artistic.  Mr.  Dallas  Lore  Sharp  gives  us  a  picture  of  such 
a  home.^ 

Each  of  us  has  his  own  Bible,  and  one  of  the  boys  is 
Bible  warden.  He  puts  them  on  after  breakfast,  as  the  old 
servant  in  the  Ruskin  household  put  on  the  dessert.  Every 
morning,  as  soon  as  breakfast  is  over,  and  while  we  are  still 

1  "Education  for  Individuality."     Atlantic  Monthly,  June  1920. 


174  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

at  the  table  (it  is  fatal  to  rise),  the  Bibles  are  brought  in 
and  passed  around,  and  beginning  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
we  read  aloud  in  turn,  dividing  the  chapter  by  verses  equally 
among  us.  Seven  mornings  a  week,  D.V.,  we  do  this,  and 
on  Sunday  mornings,  for  years,  those  seven  chapters  were 
reviewed,  discussed,  and  illustrated  with  a  series  of  great 
Bible  pictures.  Besides  this,  we  studied  Toy's  "History  of 
the  Religion  of  Israel,"  and  read  a  life  of  Christ  which  I  had 
the  temerity  to  write  for  one  of  our  popular  magazines  when 
a  theological  student;  we  followed  Paul  in  his  wanderings; 
but  the  daily  reading  was  and  is  the  big  thing  —  right  along 
from  day  to  day,  dry  places,  hard  places,  and  bad  places, 
never  missing  a  line  —  not  even  the  numbering  of  the 
tribes,  the  building  of  the  tabernacle,  the  who-begat-whom 
chapters,  Ruth  and  Rahab  and  the  Scarlet  Woman:  every- 
body, everything,  just  as  it  reads,  without  a  quiver,  and  with 
endless  joy  and  zest. 

If  it  is  a  "dry"  place  like  the  building  of  the  tabernacle, 
so  much  the  better  lesson  in  patience  and  concentration;  if 
it  is  a  "bad"  place  (and  there  are  some  horrid  spots  in  the 
Old  Testament),  the  children  had  better  have  it  frankl> 
with  us,  than  on  the  sly,  and  have  it  early  while  their  only 
interest  in  it  is  the  interest  of  fact.  If  it  is  a  "hard"  place, 
as  it  was  this  morning  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Joshua, 
we  lick  it  up,  to  see  who  can  do  the  cleanest  job  of  pro- 
nunciation, who  can  best  handle  his  tongue,  and  make 
most  poetry  out  of  the  cities  with  their  villages. 

But  there  are  the  beautiful  places,  the  thrilling  places  — 
the  story,  the  poetry,  the  biography,  the  warning,  the  ex- 
hortation, the  revelation,  the  priest,  the  prophet,  the  Great 
Teacher,  the  twelve  disciples,  kings  and  common  people, 
and  everywhere  the  presence  of  God. 

I  have  not  tried  to  shape  the  children's  religious  faith, 
that  being  a  natural  thing  without  need  of  shaping,  unless, 
distorted  by  dogma,  it  must  be  reshaped  till  it  again  be- 
comes a  little  child's.  I  have  learned  religion  of  them, 
not  they  of  me,  with  my  graduate  degree  in  theology,  which 
I  would  so  gladly  give  in  exchange  for  the  heart  of  a  little 
child! 

We  read  the  Bible  as  we  read  other  books,  for  it  is  like 
other  books,  only  better ;   and  so  we  read  it  of tener  —  every 


THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CHILDREN       175 

morning  after  breakfast;  we  then  say  The  Lord's  Prayer 
together,  and  do  the  best  we  can  to  sing  the  Doxology,  little 
Jersey,  the  dog,  joining  in.  This  makes  a  good  beginning 
for  the  day;  and  a  very  good  beginning,  too,  for  language, 
and  literature,  and  life. 

To  help  men  and  women  to  establish  such  homes  is  the 
most  fundamental  task  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  of 
every  other  church. 


Questions  for  Discussion 

1.  In  what  sense  is  Christian  education  a  missionary 

enterprise? 

2.  How  important  to  Jesus  was  the  child?    How  far  has 

the  Protestant  Church  lived  up  to  his  estimate? 
How  many  hours  of  religious  training  per  week,  for 
example,  does  the  average  Protestant  child  have? 
Compare  with  the  average  Catholic  child.  With 
the  average  Jewish  child.  What  are  the  facts  also 
concerning  the  present  enrollment  and  attendance 
in  Protestant  Sunday  schools? 

3.  From  the  report  of  the  war  chaplnins,  what  further 

light  is  obtained  concerning  the  efficiency  or  in- 
efficiency of  Protestant  religious  education  in  America 
to  date? 

4.  What  are  "Sabbath-school  missionaries*'?    How  valu- 

able is  their  work?  {Note  its  intensive  as  well  as 
its  extensive  character.)  How  completely  do  they 
cover  the  field?  How  many  children,  for  example, 
still  fail  to  receive  religious  instruction? 

5.  What  was  the  first  object  of  the  Daily  Vacation  Bible 

School?    What  other  value  has  it  proved  to  possess? 


176  UNFINISHED    BUSINESS 

What  may  individual  churches  do  for  the  immigrant 
children  in  their  vicinity? 

6.  Why  is  week-day  religious  instruction  needed?     How 

may  it  be  provided  for?  With  what  effort?  What 
action  taken  by  the  Board  of  Education  of  New  York 
City  offers  a  beginning  for  such  work?  Has  any 
city  near  you  taken  similar  action? 

7.  How  may  improvement   be  made  in  the  quality  of 

instruction  offered  as  to  m^a^erial,  method,  and 
teacher? 

8.  What  is  the  responsibility  of  parents  in  the  home? 

Discuss  fully  showing  difficulties  and  ways  and  means 
of  *^ carrying  on.'' 

9.  Describe  an  ideal  Christian  home  in  its  religious  train- 

ing of  children. 


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